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65di G>Dgre8s, 1st Session Senate Docnment No. 87 



VISITING WAR MISSIONS TO 
THE UNITED STATES 



^ 



PROCEEDINGS 

IN THE 

SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 



ON THE OCCASION OF THE RECEPTIONS 
TENDERED TO THE WAR MISSIONS OF 



FRANCE, GREAT BRITAIN. ITALY, RUSSIA, 
BELGIUM, AND JAPAN 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFHCB 

1917 



65th Coni^ress, 1st Session Senate Document No. 87 



VISITING WAR MISSIONS TO 
THE UNITED STATES 






PROCEEDINGS 

IN THE 

SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 



ON THE OCCASION OF THE RECEPTIONS 
TENDERED TO THE WAR MISSIONS OF 



FRANCE, GREAT BRITAIN, ITALY, RUSSIA, 
BELGIUM, AND JAPAN 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 



/\0 



^^r^f^ 



SENATE RESOLUTION Na 130. 

[presented by MR. MARTIN.] 

In the Senate of the United States, 

September 12, 1917. 
Resolved, That the proceedings of the Senate and 
House of Representatives on the occasions of the recep- 
tions given to the war missions of France, Great Britain, 
Italy, Russia, Belgium, and Japan, nineteen hundred and 
seventeen, be printed as a Senate document. 
Attest: 

James M. Baker, Secretary. 



D, of D« 
NiW 16 191/ 






THE FRENCH 
WAR MISSION 



VISITING WAR MISSIONS 
TO THE UNITED STATES. 



THE FRENCH WAR MISSION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

Friday, April 27, 1917. 



STATEMENT OF MR. RENE VIVIANI. 

Mr. James. Mr. President, Mr. Rene Viviani, the head 
of the French Commission to the United States, made a 
statement to the Washington newspaper men yesterday, 
which is so eloquent and presents in such a splendid and 
feeling way the affection of the French people for America, 
that I ask that it may be printed in the Record. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Warren in the chair). 
Without objection, the matter referred to will be printed 
in the Record. 

The statement referred to is as follows : 

I promised to receive you after having reserved, as elementary 
courtesy required, my first communication solely for the Presi- 
dent. I have just had the honor, which I shared with the other 
members of the Mission, of being received by him. I am indeed 
happy to have been chosen to present the greetings of the 
French Republic to the illustrious man whose name is in every 
French mouth to-day, whose incomparable message is at this 
very hour being read and commented upon in all our schools 
as the most perfect charter of human rights, and which so fully 
expresses the virtues of your race — long-suffering patience be- 
fore appealing to force, and force to avenge that long-suffering 
patience when there can be no other means. 

Since you are here to listen to me, I ask you to repeat a 
thousandfold the expression of our deep gratitude for the en- 
thusiastic reception the American people have granted us in 

5 



6 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Washington. It is not to us, but to our beloved and heroic 
France, that reception was accorded. We were proud to be 
her children in those unforgetable moments when we read in 
the radiance of the faces we saw the noble sincerety of your 
hearts. And I desire to thank also the press of the United 
States, represented by you. I fully realize the ardent and 
disinterested help you have given by your tireless propaganda 
in the cause of right. I know your action has been incalculable. 
Gentlemen, I thank you. 

We have come to this land to salute the American people and 
its Government, to call to fresh vigor our lifelong friendship, 
sweet and cordial in the ordinary course of our lives, and which 
these tragic hours have raised to all the ardor of brotherly 
love — a brotherly love which in these last years of suffering 
has multiplied its most touching expressions. You have given 
help not only in treasure, in every act of kindness and good 
will^ — ^for us your children have shed their blood, and the names 
of your sacred dead are inscribed forever in our hearts. And it 
was with a full knowledge of the meaning of what you did that 
you acted. Your inexhaustible generosity was not the charity 
of the fortunate to the distressed, it was an affirmation of your 
conscience, a reasoned approval of your judgment. 

Your fellow countrymen knew that under the savage assaults 
of a nation of prey which has made of war, to quote a famous 
saying, its national industry, we were upholding with our 
incomparable allies, faithful and valiant to the death, with all 
those who are fighting shoulder to shoulder with us on the 
firing line, the sons of indomitable England, a struggle for the 
violated rights of man, for that democratic spirit which the 
forces of autocracy were attempting to crush throughout the 
world. We are ready to carry that struggle on to the end. 

And now, as President Wilson has said, the Republic of the 
United States rises in its strength as a champion of right and 
rallies to the side of France and her allies. Only our descend- 
ants, when time has removed them sufficiently far from present 
events, will be able to measure the full significance, the grandeur 
of an historic act which has sent a thrill through the whole 
world. From to-day on all the forces of freedom are let loose. 
And not only victory, of which we were already assured, is 
certain; the true meaning of victory is made manifest. It can 
not be merely a fortunate military conclusion to this struggle; 



The French War Mission. 7 

it will be the victory of morality and right, and will forever 
secure the existence of a world in which all our children shall 
draw free breath in full peace and undisturbed pursuit of their 
labors. 

To accomplish this great work, which will be carried to com- 
pletion, we are about to exchange views with the men in your 
Government best quahfied to help. The cooperation of the 
Republic of the United States in this world conflict is now 
assured. We work together as freemen who are resolved to 
save the ideals of mankind. 

(Cong. Record, p. 1328.) 

[A duplicate of the above order and statement was printed 
in the Congressional Record (Senate) on pp. 1356, 1357, Apr. 
28, 1917.] 

Tuesday, May 1, 1917. 



PREUMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Vice President. The Chair makes the following 
statement: At 12.15 to-day the French vice premier, the 
inspector general of public instruction, and Gen. JofTre 
are cqming to visit the Senate of the United States. Two 
of them are members of the French Assembly and, of 
course, are entitled to the privileges of the floor. The 
marshal is not entitled to the privileges of the floor if 
there is any objection. The Chair is therefore inquiring 
whether there will be any objection to the marshal coming 
in on the floor of the Senate ? 

Mr. Overman. I ask that the rule be suspended and 
unanimous consent given that he may have the privileges 
of the floor. 

The Vice President. If there is no objection, he will 
be admitted. 

The Chair in looking over past occasions, when Gen. 
Lafayette and Louis Kossuth were here, has ascertained 
that very shortly after they had been admitted to the 
Senate Chamber a recess was taken in order that Senators 
might be presented to the visitors. The Chair suggests 



8 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

that course of action upon the present occasion. There 
will be no speeches of any kind whatever; it will be simply 
a formal visit. 

Mr. Overman. I understand that when the distin- 
guished Austrian visited the Senate there was a motion 
for a recess. 

The Vice President. The Chair is simply making the 
announcement m order that his conduct may meet with 
the approval of the Senate. 

On Saturday last when it became apparent that the 
Senate of the United States would be in session tmtil near 
the hour of midnight, Senators having been invited to 
the Army and Navy Club to attend a reception to the 
marshal of France, the Vice President transmitted a letter 
stating the facts and expressing regret that Senators 
could not attend. A reply has been received to that 
letter, which the Chair desu'es to have inserted in the 
Record. 

The letter referred to is as follows: 

[I^ Marechal Jofi: e, Republique Francaise.] 

Washington, April 30, 19 17. 
To the Hon. Thomas R. Marshall, 
Vice President of the United States, 

Washington, D. C. 
Dear Mr. Vice PREsroENT: I wish to thank you for your 
warm letter in behalf of France and of her Army which I rep- 
resent here. I am particularly appreciative of the words you 
have said in the name of the Senate and which reflect so well the 
friendship uniting our two countries. The law which you have 
voted is a most eloquent proof of the common will that inspires 
us both. 

Kindly, I pray you, Mr. President, transmit to your colleagues 
the expression of my high appreciation for the sympathy with 
which they have honored me during my sojourn in Washington 
and receive the assurances of my high appreciation. 

J. JoFPRE. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 1600, 1601.) 

***** 



The French War Mission. 9 

The Vice President. Will the Senator from Wisconsin 
bear with the Chair? The Chair assumes that the Sena- 
tor from Wisconsin will not conclude by 12.15 his discus- 
sion of the amendment, and if agreeable to the Senator, 
as it is less than 10 minutes before it will be necessary to 
interrupt the proceedings until the visitors have de- 
parted, the Chair suggests to the Senator that he do not 
proceed now; and when the visitors depart the Chair will 
recognize the Senator from Wisconsin on the subject of his 
amendment. 

Mr. La Foi.i.ette. Mr. President, I thank the Vice 
President for the suggestion. I should like to say, how- 
ever, that what I have to offer to the Senate for its con- 
sideration upon this amendment will require not to exceed 
25 or 30 minutes of the Senate's time, but I would, of 
course, prefer to have the opportunity to present it con- 
nectedly and without interruption. 

The Vice President. That is why the Chair made the 
suggestion, and in order to accommodate the Senator. 

Mr. CHAMBERI.AIN. I suggest that the Senate be at 
ease for a few minutes without taking a recess. 

The Vice President. That course will be satisfactory. 

After a little delay. 

PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Vice President said : The Chair requests the Sen- 
ator from Nebraska [Mr. Hitchcock] and tlie Senator 
from Massachusetts [Mr. Lodge] to meet the distin- 
guished guests of the Senate and escort them into the 
Chamber. 

At 12 o'clock and 30 minutes p. m. the Commissioners 
of the French Republic to the Government of the United 
States, M. Rene Viviani, Vice Premier of the Council of 
Ministers; Marshal Joffre; Vice Admiral Chocheprat, of 
the Navy of France; and M. Emile Hovelaque, inspector 
general of public instruction, escorted by Mr. Hitchcock 
and Mr. Lodge, the committee appointed by the Vice 
President, entered the Senate Chamber, accompanied by 



lo Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Mr. Jusserand, the French Ambassador Extraordinary 
and Plenipotentiary accredited to the United States, 
aides of the French officers, and the Assistant Secretary 
of State, Mr. Phillips. The distinguished visitors having 
been seated in chairs provided to the right and left, re- 
spectively, of the Vice President, 

ADDRESS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT. 

The Vice President. The Senate of the United States 
has had the pleasure and honor many times in the past of 
receiving and welcoming distinguished visitors to the 
Republic. It had the glorious honor of receiving Gen. 
Lafayette. Nearly a century afterwards it now has the 
great pleasure and honor of welcoming the Vice Premier 
of the French Government, the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, the Marshal of France, and Vice Admiral 
Chocheprat, of the French Navy. 

Mr. Martin. Mr. President, in order that Senators may 
have an opportunity to be presented to the distinguished 
guests of the Nation who are now in the Senate Chamber, 
I move that the Senate take a recess for 25 minutes. 

The Vice President. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

Thereupon (at 12 o'clock and 32 minutes p. m.) the 
Senate took a recess for 25 minutes. 

During the recess the members of the French Commis- 
sion took their places at the right of the Vice President's 
desk, and the Members of the Senate were, presented to 
them. 

The Vice President. While the Senate is not in session 
the Presiding Officer has decided to vary the proceedings 
by asking the French Premier to address you very briefly 
in recess. [Applause.] 

[M. Viviani thereupon addressed the Senate in French, his remarks bein? received with 
frequent manifestations of applause. The address, in English, will he published hereafter.) 

In response to calls for an address. Marshal Joffre said: 
" I do not speak English. Vive les Eta ts Unisl" [Ap- 
plause.] 



The French War Mission. 1 1 

The Vice President. As we said "Hail!" so now we 
say "Farewell," and yet again, please God, "Hail!" 
[Applause.] 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Chamber. 

(Cong. Rec, pp. 1607, 1608.) 



Friday, May 4, 1917. 



ADDRESS BY M. VIVIANI. 

The Vice President. The Chair has received a trans- 
lation of the address delivered by the French Vice Premier 
in the Senate Chamber on the ist instant. If there is no 
objection, the Chair will order it printed in the Record, 
and when incorporated in the permanent Record it will be 
of value in future years. 

The address referred to is as follows: 

M. ViviANi. Mr. President and Senators, since I have 
been granted the supreme honor of speaking before the 
Representatives of the American people, may I ask them 
first to allow me to thank this magnificent Capital for the 
welcome it has accorded us? Accustomed as we are in 
our own free land to popular manifestations, and though 
we had been warned by your fellow countrymen who live 
in Paris of the enthusiasm burning in your hearts, we are 
still full of the emotion raised by the sights that awaited 
us. I shall never cease to see the proud and stalwart 
men who saluted our passage; your women, whose grace 
adds fresh beauty to your city, their arms outsti-etched, 
full of flowers; and your children hurrying to meet us as 
if our coming were looked upon as a lesson for them, all 
with one accord acclaiming in our perishable persons 
immortal France. And I predict there will be a yet 
grander manifestation on the day when your illustrious 
President, relieved from the burden of power, will come 
among us bearing the salute of the Republic of the United 



12 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

States to a free Europe, whose foundations from end to 
end shall be based on right. It is with unspeakable 
emotion that we crossed the threshold of this Legislative 
Palace, where prudence and boldness meet, and that I 
for the first time in the annals of America, though a 
foreigner, speak in this Hall, which only a few days since 
resounded with the words of virile force. You have set 
all the democracies of the world the most magnificent 
example. So soon as the common peril was made manifest 
to you, with simplicity and within a few short days, you 
voted a formidable war credit and proclaimed that a 
formidable army was to be raised. President Wilson's 
commentary on his acts, which you made yours, remains 
in the history of free peoples the weightiest of lessons. 
Doubtless you Vv^ere resolved to avenge the insults offered 
your Flag, which the whole world respected; doubtless 
through the thickness of these massive walls the mournful 
cry of all the victims that criminal hands hurled into the 
depths of the sea has reached and stirred your souls, but 
it will be your honor in history that you also heard the cry 
of humanity and invoked against autocracy the rights of 
democracies. And I can only wonder as I speak what, 
if they still have any power to think, are the thoughts 
of the autocrats who three years ago against us, three 
months ago against you, unchained this conflict. 

Ah! doubtless they said among themselves that a 
democracy is an ideal government, that it showers re- 
forms on mankind, that it can in the domain of labor 
quicken all economic activities. And yet now we see 
the French Republic fighting in defense of its territory 
and the liberty of nations and opposing to the avalanche 
let loose by Prussian militarism the union of all its chil- 
dren, who are still capable of striking many a weighty 
blow. And now we see England, far removed like you 
from conscription, who has also, by virtue of a discipline 
all accept, raised from her soil millions of fighting men. 
And we see other nations, accomplishing the same act; 
and that liberty not only inflames all hearts but coordi- 



The French War Mission. 13 

nates and brings into being all needed efforts. And now, 
we see all America rise and sharpen her weapons in the 
midst of peace for the common struggle. Together we 
will carry on that struggle, and when by force we have 
at last imposed military victory our labors will not be 
concluded. Our task will be — I quote the noble words of 
President Wilson — to organize the society of nations. 
I well know^ that our enemies, who have never seen before 
them anything but horizons of carnage, will never cease 
to jeer at so noble a design. Such has always been the 
fate of great ideas at their birth; and if thinkers and 
men of action had allowed themselves to be discouraged 
by skeptics mankind would still be in its infancy and we 
should still be slaves. After material victory we will win 
this moral victory. We will shatter the ponderous sword 
of militarism; we will establish guaranties for peace; 
and then we can disappear from the world's stage, since 
we shall leave at the cost of our common immolation the 
noblest heritage future generations can possess. 

(Cong. Record, p. 1823.) 

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES. 

Thursday, May 3, 1917. 



PREUMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Speaker. The Chair appoints as a committee to 
escort the French Commissioners to the floor of the House 
the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Flood; the gentleman 
from Maryland, Mr. Linthicum; the gentleman from Ar- 
kansas, Mr. Goodwin; the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. 
Cooper; the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Porter, 
being members of the regular Committee on Foreign Af- 
fairs; and also appoints the gentleman from Louisiana, 
Gen. Estopinal, and the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Mc- 
Cormick, as they can each read and speak the French Ian- 



14 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

guage. The committee will proceed to the Speaker's 
room, and the House stands in recess for 30 minutes. 

The Chair will further suggest that the Hon. Rene 
Viviani and Marshal Joffre come up in the first instance 
to the Speaker's desk to be presented to the House, and 
then that they take their stand at the right of the Speaker's 
desk, so that everybody can pass by and shake hands. 

Accordingly, at 12 o'clock and 7 minutes p. m., the 
House stood in recess for 30 minutes. 

At 12 o'clock and 10 minutes p. m. the Commissioners 
of the French Republic to the Government, of the United 
States, M. Rene Viviani, Vice Premier of the Council of 
Ministers; Marshal Joffre; Vice Admiral Chocheprat, of 
of the Navy of France; and M. Emile Hovelaque, Inspector 
General of Public Instruction, escorted by Mr. Flood, Mr. 
Linthicum, Mr. Goodwin of Arkansas, Mr. Cooper of Wis- 
consin, Mr. Porter, Mr. Estopinal, and Mr. McCormick, 
entered the Hall of the House, accompanied by Mr. Jus- 
serand, the French Ambassador Extraordinary and Pleni- 
potentiary accredited to the United States, Aides of the 
French Officers, and the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. 
Phillips. The distinguished visitors were escorted to the 
Speaker's rostrum amid prolonged applause and cheers. 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Representa- 
tives, I present to you the Vice Premier, the Minister of 
Justice of France, M. Rene Viviani. [Prolonged applause.] 

[M. Viviani thereupon addressed the House in French, his remarks being received with 
frequent manifestations of applause. The address, in English, will be published hereafter.] 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Representa- 
tives, I present to you the Marshal of France, Gen. Joffre. 
[Prolonged applause.] 

In response to calls for an address, Marshal Joffre said: 

"I thank you. Vive 1' Amerique ! " [Applause.] 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Representa- 
tives, I present you the great-grandson of Gen. Lafayette, 
Marquis de Chambrun. [Applause.] 



The French War Mission. 15 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I present 
to you the x\mbassador from France, M. Jusserand. 
[Applause.] 

In response to calls for an address, M. Jusserand said: 

ADDRESS BY M. JUSSERAND. 

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House oe Repre- 
sentatives: I intended to repeat only the word of Marshal 
Joffre, though I have not the same excuse for not making 
a longer speech ; but the words interpret very well my feel- 
ings as well as his feelings and the feelings of all my com- 
patriots. Gentlemen, I thank you. [Applause.] 

This occasion is a very great one, a unique one, and I am 
sure that those two men whose portraits adorn this Hall, 
Washington and Lafayette, those two friends who fought 
for liberty, would, if they could, also applaud and say to 
their descendants, their American descendants and their 
French descendants, "Dear people, we thank you." [Ap- 
plause.] What you have been doing, the laws you have 
passed, the decisions you have taken, touch us deeply, and 
touch the French people in a very particular fashion, be- 
cause what you have done is a sort of counterpart of what 
we did long ago. What we did was to come to the rescue 
of men who wanted to be free, and our desire was to help 
them and to have no other recompense than to succeed, 
and that liberty should be established in this new conti- 
nent. [Applause.] What we did was unique in the his- 
tory of the world. We expected no recompense but your 
friendship, and that we got. [Applause.] We did not 
know that ever a time would come when the same event, 
the same action could be taken by another of the nations 
of the world, and yet that time has come, the same action 
has been taken, with the same energy, the same generosity, 
the same disinterestedness that characterize the conduct 
of those ot^ier men many years ago. What you do now is 
to come to Europe to take part in the fight for liberty, a 
fight in which you expect no recompense, nothing to your 
advantage, except that very great advantage, that in the 



1 6 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

same way that we secured liberty — human Hberty, indi- 
vidual liberty, national liberty — on this continent, you 
will fight to see that liberty be preserved in the Old World 
and, thanks to you, we shall see the calamities of this 
struggle shortened, and we shall see that a new spirit of 
liberty will grow greater and stronger, and, thanks to you, 
be rejuvenated. [Applause.] 

The members of the French Commission then took their 
places at the right of the Speaker's rostrum and the 
Members of the House were presented to them. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Hall of the House. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 1782, 1783.) 



Thursday, June 7, 1917. 



ADDRESS BY M. VIVIANI. 

The- Speaker. The Chair has received from the Secre- 
tary of State a communication inclosing the speech of 
M. Viviani, recently delivered in the House, in French 
and an English translation thereof, which the Secretary 
of State requests to have printed in the Record. With- 
out objection, it will be so printed. 

There was no objection. 

The communication referred to is as follows : 

Department op State, 
Washington, June 4, 1917. 
The Hon. Champ Clark, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Sir : I have the honor to inclose herewith for inclusion in the 
Congressional Record the French text, with a translation thereof, 
of the speech delivered by M. Viviani, of the French mission, 
before the House of Representatives. 

This text and the translation were furnished to the depart- 
ment by Mr. Emile Hovelaque, of the mission. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

Robert Lansing, 



The French War Mission. 17 

Messieurs : Nous voici done une fois encore, mes com- 
patriotes et moi, admis aux honneurs de la seance dans 
une enceinte legislative. Pourraije vous d^peindre 1' emo- 
tion qui nous etreint devant cette derogation solennelle k 
vos regies seculaires, et en ce qui me conceme, pourraije 
vous dire, comme parlementaire habitue, depuis plus de 
vingt ans, aux passions et aux orages des assemblies, que 
je goiite peut-etre plus qu' un autre k cette heure la joie 
supreme de me trouver k cette tribune, k cette tribune si 
haute, que, si faible que soit la voix, elle est entendue de 
I'univers. 

Messieurs, je ne vous remercierai pas, non parce que 
notre gratitude est ^puisee, mais parce que son epuisees 
les paroles nouvelles par lesquelles je pourrais la traduire; 
je ne vous remercierai pas de votre accueil. Nous avons 
tons senti, mes compagnons et moi, que les acclamations 
qui montaient vers nous ne sortaient pas seulement de 
vos levres. Nous avons tous senti que vous ne remplis- 
siez pas seulement les obligations de la courtoisie interna- 
tionale; brusquement, nous avons vu se devoiler k nos 
^regards, dans son intimity charmante, la complexity de 
I'dme americaine. 

Lorsq'on aborde un Amdricain, il semble qu'on aborde 
un homme pratique, seulement pratique, vivant pour les 
affaires, par les affaires, dans les affaires. Mais, lorsqu'k 
certaines heures de la vie priv^e, on se penche sur I'dme 
americaine, on en d^couvre k la fois la fraichuer et la 
d^licatesse; et lorsqu'k certaines heures de la vie publique, 
on interroge Tame nationale, alors on voit surgir d'elle 
toute la puissance de I'id^al; si bien que ce peuple amdri- 
cain, admirablement equilibre, est k la fois pratique et 
sentimental, r^aliste et reveur, et qu'il est toujours possible 
de mettre ses qualites postivies k la disposition de sa forte 
pens^e. 

Et voyez. Messieurs, le parall^le glorieux qu'k notre 
profit, k votre profit, nous pouvons ^tablir entre nos 
ennemis et nous. Mandataires d'un peuple libre, nous 

16720— S. Doc. 87, 65-1 2 



1 8 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

venons au milieu des hommes libres pour confronter nos 
idees, pour echanger nos vues, pour apercevoir le formid- 
able probleme siirgi de la guerre. Et toutes les nations 
alliees, par celk meme qu'elles reposent sur des institutions 
democratiques par leu gouvemement, se concertent k la 
meme hauteur, dans la meme egalite et dans la meme 
liberte. 

Je sais bien qu'a I'heure actuelle au milieu des empires 
centraux, se trouve un monarque absolu qui rattache a lui, 
par les liens d'une vassalite de fer, d'autres peuples. On a 
dit que c'etait le signe de la force. Ce n'en est que I'ap- 
parence derisoire. Kt en eflet, il y a quelques semaines, 
k la veille du jour ou I'Amerlque fremissante allait se 
dresser de tout son elan, au lendemain du jour oil la temps 
les soldats aux armes et le peuple a I'independance, on a 
vu ce monarque absolu trebucher sur les degres de son 
trone, sentant passer sur sa couronne le souffle les pre- 
mieres tempetes. Et il s'est abaisse vers ce peuple, s'est 
humilie, et, afin de le gagner, il est alle emprunter aux 
nations libres leur institution supreme en promettant k 
leurs sujets de leur donner le suffrage universel. 

Ici comme aux heures de notre histoire, comme aux 
heures de la votre, c'est la liberte qui fraye le chemin aux 
combattants. Nous voici tous debout pour la civilisa- 
tion et pour le droit. Avant-hier, dans une reunion 
publique a laquelle j'assistais, j'entendais un de vos plus 
grands orateurs dire, avec une emotion concentree: 
"C'est jure sur le tombeau de Washington." Et j'ai 
compris alors 1' emotion forte et le sens profond de ces 
paroles. Si Washington pouvait se lever de son tombeau, 
du haut de sa montagne sacree, s'il pouvait apercevoir le 
monde teli qu'il est, devenu plus petit, par le rapproche- 
ment des distances materielles et morales, et par I'enche- 
vetrement des relations economiques, il sentirait que son 
oeuvre n'est pas finie, et que, de meme qu'un homme 
puissant et superieur se doit aux autres hommes, de 
meme un peuple puissant et superieur se doit aux autres 
peuples, et, apres avoir etabli sa propre independance, 



The French War Mission. 19 

doit aider les autres a maintenir leur ind^pendance ou a 
la conquerir. C'est la logique mysterieuse de I'histoire 
qu'a si merveilleusement comprise M. le President Wilson, 
cet esprit si fort, si fin, k la fois capable d'analyse et de 
synthase, d'observations minutieuses vite suivies d'une 
forte action. C'est jure sur le tombeau de Washington! 
C'est jur^ sur le tombeau des soldats allies, tomb^s pour 
la cause sainte! C'est jure sur nos blesses! C'est jure 
sur la tete de nos orphelins! C'est jurd sur les berceaux 
et les tombeaux! C'est jur6! 

(Translation.] 

Gentlemen: Once more my fellow countrymen and I 
are admitted to the honor of being present at a sitting in 
a Legislative Chamber. May I be permitted to express 
our emotion at this solemn derogation against rules more 
than a centiu-y old, and, so far as my own person is con- 
cerned, may I say that, as a Member of Parliament, ac- 
customed for 20 years to the passions and storms which 
sweep through political assemblies, I appreciate more 
than anyone at this moment the supreme joy of being 
near this chair, which is in such a commanding position 
that, however feeble may be the voice that speaks thence, 
it is heard over the whole world ? 

Gentlemen, I will not thank you, not because our grati- 
tude fails, but because new words to express it fail. No; 
I do not thank you for your welcome. We have all felt, 
my companions and myself, that the manifestations which 
rose toward oiu" persons came not only from your lips, 
but from your heart. We have felt that you were not 
merely fulfilling the obligations of international courtesy. 
Suddenly, in all its charming intimacy, the complexity of 
the American soul was revealed to us. 

When one meets an American one is supposed to meet 
a practical man, merely a practical man, caring only for 
business, only interested in business. But when at cer- 
tain hours in private life one studies the American soul, 
one discovers at the same time how fresh and delicate 



20 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

it is ; and when at certain moments of public life one con- 
siders the soul of the Nation, then one sees all the force of 
the ideals that rise from it ; so that this American people, 
in its perfect balance, is at once practical and sentimental, 
a realizer and a dreamer, and is always ready to place its 
practical qualities at the disposal of its puissant thoughts. 

And see, gentlemen, what a glorious comparison, to our 
profit, yours also, we can establish between our enemies 
and us. Intrusted with a mandate from a free people, 
we came among free men to compare our ideals, to ex- 
change our views, to measure the whole extent of the 
problems raised by this war; and all the Allied Nations, 
simply because they repose on democratic institutions, 
through their Governments meet in the same lofty region 
on equal terms, in full liberty. 

I well know that at this very hour in the Central 
Empire there is an absolute monarch who binds to his 
will by vassal links of steel other peoples. It has been 
said this was a sign of strength; it is only a derisive ap- 
pearance of strength. And in truth only a few weeks 
ago, on the eve of the day when outraged America was 
about to rise in its force, on the morrow of the day when 
the Russian Revolution, faithful to its alliance, called at 
once its soldiers to arms and its people to independence, 
this absolute monarch was seen to totter on the steps of 
his throne as he felt the first breath of the tempest pass 
over his crown. And he bent toward his people in humilia- 
tion, and in order to win its sympathy borrowed from 
free peoples the highest institutions and promised his 
subjects universal suffrage. 

Here, as in the cinicial hours of our history as in these of 
yours, it is liberty which clears the way for our soldiers. 
We are all now united in our common effort for civiliza- 
tion, for right. 

The day before yesterday, in a public meeting at which 
I was present, I heard one of your greatest orators say 
with deep emotion, "It has been sworn on the Tomb of 
Washington." And then I understood the full emotion 



The French War Mission. 21 

and import of those words. If Washington could rise 
from his tomb, if from his sacred momid he could view the 
world as it now is, shrunk to smaller proportions by the 
lessening of material and moral distances and the mingling 
of every kind of communication between men, he would 
feel his labors are not yet concluded, and that just as a 
man of superior and powerful mind has a debt to all other 
men, so a superior and powerful nation owes a debt to 
other nations, and after establishing its own independence 
must aid others to maintain their independence or to 
conquer it. It is the mysterious logic of history which 
President Wilson so marvelously understood, thanks to a 
mind as vigorous as it is subtle, as capable of analysis as 
it is of synthesis, of minute observation followed by swift 
action. It has been sworn on the Tomb of Washington. 
It has been sworn on the tomb of our allied soldiers, fallen 
in a sacred cause. It has been sworn by the bedside of 
our wounded men. It has been sworn on the heads of oiir 
orphan children. It has been sworn on cradles and on 
tombs. It has been sworn. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 3539, 3540.) 



THE BRITISH 
WAR MISSION 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

Tuesday, May 8, 1917. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Vice President (at 12 o'clock and 27 minutes 
p. m.). The British Commissioners having arrived at the 
Capitol, the Chair requests the Senator from Alabama 
[Mr. Bankhead], the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. 
Williams], the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Pomerene], the 
Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. Colt], and the Senator 
from Idaho [Mr. Borah] to meet the members of the 
British Commission in the Vice President's room and escort 
them into the Senate Chamber. 

At 12 o'clock and 30 minutes p. m. the Commissioners 
of the Government of Great Britain to the Government 
of the United States, the Right Hon. Arthur James 
Balfour, M. P., O. M., Principal British Secretary of State 
for Foreign Affairs; the Hon, Sir Eric Drummond, K. C. 
M. G., C. B.; Mr. Ian Malcolm, M. P.; Mr. C. F. J. 
Dormer; Rear Admiral Sir Dudley R. S. de Chair, R. N., 
K. C. B., M. V. O.; Fleet Paymaster Gen. Vincent A. 
Lawford, R. N., D. S. O.; Maj. Gen. G. T. M. Bridges, 
G. M. G., D. S. O.; Maj. H. H. Spender-Clay, M. P., 
British General Staff, escorted by the committee appointed 
by the Vice President, consisting of Mr. Bankhead, Mr. 
Williams, Mr. Pomerene, Mr. Colt, and Mr. Borah, entered 
the Senate Chamber, accompanied by Sir Cecil Arthur 
Spring-Rice, the British Ambassador Extraordinary and 
Plenipotentiary accredited to the United States; aids 
of the British officers; the Assistant Secretary of Slate, 

as 



26 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Mr. William Phillips; Mr. Hugh Gibson, of the State 
Department; and Capt. George Quekemeyer, United 
States Army. The distinguished visitors were escorted 
to the places assigned to them, the Right Hon. Arthur J. 
Balfour and the British Ambassador, Sir Cecil Arthur 
Spring-Rice, being seated, respectively, at the right and 
left of the Vice President. 

Mr. Martin. Mr. President, in honor of the distinguished 
representative of Great Britain, who are guests of the 
Nation and who are now in the Senate Chamber, and in 
order that Senators may have an opportunity to be pre- 
sented to them, I move that the Senate take a recess for 30 
minutes. 

The Vice President. The question is on agreeing to the 
motion of the Senator from Virginia. 

The motion was agreed to; and accordingly (at 12 
o'clock and 32 minutes p. m.) the Senate took a recess 
for 30 minutes. 

During the recess, 

ADDRESS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT. 

The Vice President. Senators, for more than a cen- 
tury and a quarter the one great reason for the existence 
of this body has been to preserve the equality of all men 
before the law. A few days since we had the pleasure of 
greeting the representatives of that people whose shibbo- 
leth is "fraternity." To-day we honor, and in turn are 
ourselves honored, by receiving the representatives of that 
people whose forbears centuries ago, in an age of almost 
universal absolutism, compelled their King, anointed 
though he was with the holy oil of consecration, to give 
to them the Great Charter of human liberty. It were 
mere prophecy to say that without that Great Charter 
the Republic either of France or of America would not 
be or have a hope of being. 

May I express the hope that at the end of this most 
horrific warfare, when the representatives of liberty, fra- 
ternity, and equality shall take their seats at the council 



The British War Mission. 27 

table of the nations, they will not arise therefrom until they 
shall, so far as human ingenuity can do so, guarantee to 
every people the right to be free from the fear of assault 
from without or oppression from within [applause], until 
they shall write this legend in the firmament, above the 
sun rising for a newer and, if not a better, at least a safer, 
civilization, "I shine only for the wise; they are not wise 
who are not just"? In the words of one woman lawyer, 
for whom I have profound respect, the wise Portia, to 
Antonio, Bassanio's best friend: 

Sir, you are very welcome to our house; 
It must appear in other ways than words, 
Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy. 

I have the honor and the great pleasure of presenting 
to you the foremost champion of Magna Charta, the Right 
Hon, Arthur James Balfour, British Secretary of State 
for Foreign Affairs. [Applause.] 

ADDRESS BY RIGHT HON. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR. 

Mr. Balfour. Mr. President and gentlemen of the 
Senate, you, Mr. President, have in graceful and pregnant 
sentences brought to our recollection the common origin 
of those liberties v/hich, whether in France, in Britain, 
or in the United States of America, we all rejoice in and 
are all determined to defend. [Applause.] You have 
also in warm words of welcome spoken kindly of the Mis- 
sion of which I have the honor to be the head and to which 
you are now paying the rare, the very rare, honor of wel- 
coming within your walls. Gentlemen, on their behalf 
not less than on my own, I most sincerely thank you for 
your welcome. I know well that it is not a welcome to 
individuals. The kindness ^vhich each one of us as indi- 
viduals has received since we came to this great city will 
never be forgotten by any one of us. It has been kind- 
ness, abundant, overflowing, generous, unlimited; but, 
gentlemen, behind that kindness paid by individuals to 
individuals, behind the expression of a hospitable and 



28 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

generous feeling to guests within your gates, there is, 
after all, something much deeper, something much more 
important, something which is, after all, the animating 
spirit which brings this great assembly here to-day. 

The original object of our Mission, if I may so express 
it, was mainly a purely business one. We came here to 
discuss matters of the deepest moment for the conduct 
of that great war in which both our nations are involved. 
We came here to explain to your leaders and statesmen 
what were the needs from which the allies mainly suffered, 
and to lay freely at the disposal of those responsible for 
the conduct of your affairs the results of our own ex- 
perience, the consequences, perhaps I ought to say, in 
some cases of our own errors and blunders during two 
years and a half of strenuous and sanguinary fighting. 
That was the original object; that was the business side 
of our Mission. But the reception which you have given 
us here, the treatment which we have received from the 
President, from the Cabinet, from the House of Represent- 
atives, from the Senate — that treatment raises the whole 
level of our Mission from a purely business operation 
to' a great incident in the common life of two great and 
free peoples. 

Gentlemen, I do not think the importance of that is 
easy to overrate. I believe that the consequences will 
not be measured by any mere record of the transactions 
that may take place between our various Governments, 
nor will the effects of it vanish when we ourselves, in 
consequence of the calls of duty elsewhere, leave your 
hospitable city. No, gentlemen, this Mission and the 
French Mission which is associated with it, mark a new 
epoch in the relations of our three countries, and I believe 
that in the alliance thus cemented lie secure some of the 
greatest hopes, some of the proudest expectations, which 
we dare to entertain about the future of civilization. 
[Applause.] 

Gentlemen, it is not, however, your kindness of heart 
alone which has given this significance to contemporary 



The British War Mission. 29 

events. That significance is forced upon our notice 
whether we be citizens of America or citizens of France 
or citizens of Britain; but I speak especially at this 
moment of citizens of America and citizens of Britain. 
It is forced upon our notice by the unwearied efforts of 
an unconscionable German propaganda. Whether we live 
on the other side of the Atlantic or on this side of the 
Atlantic, we English-speaking peoples have never organ- 
ized ourselves for military purposes; we have never been 
military States; and, when the war broke out, undoubtedly 
the Germans looked around the world, estimated the 
value (from their point of view) of the nations with whom 
they might be concerned, and, profoundly contemptuous 
of our views of civilization, whether they were British or 
American views, they decided that neither Britain nor 
America counted in the struggle by which they hoped to 
obtain the domination of the world. They found us un- 
prepared ; they found us unmilitary ; and because we were 
unprepared and because we were unmilitary, they jumped 
rashly to the conclusion, firstly, that we were afraid to 
fight, and, secondly, that if we fought, we would be 
wholly negligible quantities, I think they are beginning, 
possibly, to find out their mistake. [Great applause.] 

How, gentlemen, did that mistake ever arise? It arose 
from the utter incapacity of the German ruling class — 
and it is only of the German ruling class that I speak 
to-day — to estimate value except in terms of drilled men 
and military preparation. They saw that England and 
America were prosperous, were unwarlike, were immersed 
in the arts of peace and involved in the industrial in- 
terests incident to a peaceful civilization, and they drew 
from that two conclusions: They drew from it, in the first 
place, the conclusion that because we were commercial 
we were therefore material; that we were incapable of 
high ideals or great sacrifices; and the further conclusion 
that even if we determined late in the day to pursue those 
high ideals and to make those great sacrifices we should 
be so utterly incompetent in the arts to which they had 



30 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

devoted so much of their attention that our interference 
in the war would be a thing which they could leave 
wholly on one side. On that miscalculation have been 
wrecked, and will be wrecked, all their hopes. [Applause.] 
It was their fatal blunder, a blunder from which they will 
never recover, but a blunder which has saved civilization. 

Gentlemen, I speak with confidence about the issue of 
this great struggle, a confidence which is redoubled since 
you have thrown in your lot with those who have been 
fighting since 1 914. [Great applause.] I see, indeed, sug- 
gestions that Germany, incapable of winning by arms, is 
going to win through the illegitimate weapon of submarine 
warfare. I believe it not. I do not at all minimize, I do 
not wish to minimize, the gravity of the submarine menace. 
After all, in the two years and a half during which the 
war has been going on, more than one difficulty of like 
magnitude has met us and more than one difficulty of like 
magnitude has been overcome. 

The question of munitions is a case in point. I do not 
wish to detain you on such an occasion with details, but 
at the beginning of the war it became evident that Ger- 
many had recognized the importance of the munitions 
question, had been preparing for this war through years 
of peace by having at her disposal a supply of ammuni- 
tion greater than all the rest of the world put together, 
and at one time it almost looked as if the cause of civili- 
zation and liberty w^ere to be crushed under the multitude 
of shells and the weight of artillery. We have siirmounted 
that difficulty. It was a very great one. 

I do not deny that the submarine difficulty is a very 
great one. I do not deny that it will require every effort 
made, either in Britain or here, sucessfuUy to overcome it; 
but that those efforts will be made, that this menace will 
be overcome, that the United States of America, like 
Great Britain and her dominions, will throw themselves 
into the task with ungrudging efforts, and that those 
efforts will be crowned with success, I do not doubt for a 



The British War Mission. 31 

moment. [Great applause.] This war is not going to be 
settled by the sinking of helpless neutrals or by sending 
women and children to the bottom by torpedoes or gun- 
fire. It is to be settled by hard fighting; and when it 
comes to hard fighting neither America nor Britain nor 
France need fear measuring themselves at any moment 
against those who have risen up against all that we hold 
dear for the future. 

I therefore, gentlemen, look forward — not, of course, 
in a spirit of light and easy and unthinking confidence, 
but with firm faith — to the futm'e of this war. It requires 
every man and woman on this side of the Atlantic, as on 
the other side of the Atlantic, to throw their united eff^orts 
into the scale of right. That effort unquestionably will 
be made, is being made, will be made yet further, and, 
being made, I doubt not that it will be crowned with 
success, and that posterity will look back upon the union 
of these peoples, symbolized by such meetings as that 
which I am now addressing, as marking a new epoch in 
the history of the world ; an epoch in which all the civilized 
nations roused themselves in miity to deal with one of 
their number which has forgotten its responsibilities, 
forgotten its duties, and which, in unscrupulous lust for 
universal domination, has brought the greatest of known 
calamities upon the world. 

Gentlemen, I have detained you too long, but I was led 
away by my subject. On my own behalf and on behalf of 
my friends around me, I beg to thank you for the unique 
honor which you have paid to us, and, through us, to our 
country, to our cause, which is your cause, and to the 
futiure of civilization, which is yours as much as ours. 

I thank you. 

The Vice President. The British Commissioners will 
take pleasure in greeting the Senators of the United States 
and such guests as may be upon the floor of the Senate. 
At the hour of i o'clock the Chair will ask Senator Robin- 
son, of Arkansas, to take the chair. 



32 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

The members of the British Commission then took their 
places at the left of the Vice President's desk, and the 
Members of the Senate were presented to them by the 
committee of the vSenate appointed by the Vice President 
for that pmpose 

At I o'clock p. m., upon the expiration of the recess, the 
distinguished visitors were escorted from the Chamber, and 
the vSenate reassembled. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 2021, 2022.) 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESEN- 
TATIVES. 

Saturday, May 5, 1917. 



PR^IylMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Speaker. The Chair appoints as a committee to 
escort the British Commissioners to the floor of the House 
the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Flood; the gentleman 
from Maryland, Mr. Linthicum; the gentleman from 
Arkansas, Mr. Goodwin; the gentleman from Wisconsin, 
Mr. Cooper; and, in the absence of the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Porter, and the gentleman from Mas- 
sachusetts, Mr. Rogers, the next ranking members of 
the Committee*on Foreign Affairs, he appoints the gentle- 
man from Pennsylvania, Mr. Temple. The committee 
will proceed to the Speaker's room, and, in accordance 
with the previous order, the House will stand in recess for 
30 minutes. 

Accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 30 minutes p. m.) the 
House stood in recess. 

The president of the United States entered the Execu- 
tive gallery of the House and was greeted with prolonged 
applause and cheers. 

The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme 
Court of the United States were seated in front of the. 
Speaker's rostrum. 



The British War Mission. 33 

At 12 o'clock and 35 minutes p. m., the Commissioners 
of the Government of Great Britain to the Government 
of the United States, the Right. Hon. Arthur James 
Balfour, Principal British Secretary of State for Foreign 
Affairs; Gen. G. T. M. Bridges, of the British Army; 
Admiral Sir Dudley R. S. De Chair, K. C. B , of the 
British Navy; Fleet Paymaster V. A. Lawford, D. S. O. 
R. N.; Lord Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England; 
Mr. Ian Malcolm, M. P.; and Maj. Spender-Clay, M. P., 
British General Staff, escorted by Mr. Flood, Mr. Linthi- 
cum, Mr. Goodwin of Arkansas, Mr. Cooper of Wisconsin, 
and Mr. Temple, entered the Hall of the House, accom- 
panied by Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, the British 
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary accredited 
to the United States, aids of the British officers, and the 
Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Hugh 
Gibson, of the Department of State. The distinguished 
visitors were escorted to the Speaker's rostrum amid 
prolonged applause and cheers. 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Representa- 
tives, I present to you the Right Hon. Arthur James 
Balfour, Principal British Secretary of State for Foreign 
Affairs. [Prolonged applause.] 

ADDRESS BY RIGHT HON. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR. 

Mr. Balfour. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the 
House of Representatives, will you permit me, on behalf 
of my friends and myself, to offer you my deepest and 
sincerest thanks for the rare and valued honor which you 
have done us by receiving us here to-day ? We all feel 
the greatness of this honor, but I think to none of us can 
it come home so closely as to one who, like myself, has 
been for 43 years in the service of a free assembly like 
your own. I rejoice to think that a member — a very old 
member, I am sorry to say — of the British House of 
Commons has been received here to-day by this great 

16720— S. Doc. 87, 65-1—17 3 



34 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

sister assembly with such kindness as you have shown to me 
and to my friends. [Applause.] 

Ladies and gentlemen, these two assemblies are the 
greatest and the oldest of the free assemblies now govern- 
ing great nations in the world. The history indeed of the 
two is very different. The beginnings of the British 
House of Commons go back to a dim historic past, and 
its full rights and status have only been conquered and per- 
manently secured after centuries of political struggle. 
Your fate has been a happier one. You were called into 
existence at a much later stage of social development. 
You came into being complete and perfected and all your 
powers determined, and your place in the Constitution 
secured beyond chance of revolution; but, though the 
history of these two great assemblies is different, each of 
them lepresents the great democratic principle to which 
we look forward as the security for the future peace of the 
world. [Applause.] All of the free assemblies now to be 
found governing the great nations of the earth have been 
modeled either upon your practice or upon oiurs, or upon 
both combined. 

Mr. Speaker, the compliment paid to the Mission from 
Great Britain by such an assembly and upon such an 
occasion is one not one of us is ever likely to forget, but 
there is something, after all, even deeper and more signifi- 
cant in the circumstances under which I now have the 
honor to address you than any which arise out of the inter- 
change of courtesies, however sincere, between two great 
and friendly nations. We all, I think, feel instinctively 
that this is one of the great moments in the history of the 
world and that what is now happening on both sides of the 
Atlantic represents the drawing together of great and 
free peoples for mutual protection against the aggression 
of military despotism. [Prolonged applause and cheers.] 

I am not one of those and none of you are among those 
who are such bad democrats as to say that democracies 
make no mistakes. All free assemblies have made blun- 
ders; sometimes they have committed crimes. Why is it, 



The British War Mission. 35 

then, that we look forward to the spread of free institu- 
tions throughout the world, and especially among our 
present enemies, as one of the greatest guaranties of the 
future peace of the world? I will tell you, gentlemen, 
how it seems to me. It is quite true that the people and 
the representatives of the people may be betrayed by 
some momentary gust of passion into a policy which they 
ultimately deplore, but it is only a military despotism of 
the German type which can, through generations if need 
be, pursue steadily, remorselessly, unscrupulously, the 
appalling object of dominating the civilization of man- 
kind. [Applause.] And mark you, this evil, this menace 
under which we are now suffering, is not one which di- 
minishes with the growth of knowledge and the progress 
of material civilization, but, on the contrary, it increases 
with them. When I was young we used to flatter our- 
selves that progress inevitably meant peace, and that 
growth of knowledge was always accompanied, as its 
natural fruit, by the growth of good will among the 
nations of the earth. Unhappily we know better now, 
and we know there is such a thing in the world as a 
power which can with unvarying persistency focus all the 
resources of knowledge and of civilization into the one 
great task of making itself the moral and material master 
of the world. It is against that danger that we, the free 
peoples of western civilization, have banded ourselves 
together. [Applause.] It is in that great cause that we 
are going to fight and are now fighting this very moment 
side by side. [Applause.] In that cause we shall surely 
conquer [applause], and our children will look back to 
this fateful date as the one day from which democracies 
can feel secure that their progress, their civilization, their 
rivalry, if need be, will be conducted, not on German 
lines, but in that friendly and Christian spirit which 
really befits the age in which we live. 

Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, I beg most sincerely 
to repeat again how heartily I thank you for the cordial 
welcome which you have given us to-day, and to repeat 



36 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

my profound sense of the significance of this unique 
meeting. [Great applause.] 

The members of the EngHsh Commission took their 
places at the right of the Speaker's rostrum and the 
Members of the House were presented to them, the Presi- 
dent of the United States accompanying the Members. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Hall of the House. 

(Cong. Record, p. 1928.) 



THE ITALIAN 
WAR MISSION 



37 



THE ITALIAN WAR MISSION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

Thursday, May 31, 1917. 



PRElvIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

Mr. Martin. Mr. President, as we all know, a Mission 
composed of distinguished representatives of the Italian 
Government is in the city, and in order that they may 
come on the floor of the Senate and Senators may have an 
opportunity to be introduced to them, I move that the 
Senate take a recess for 30 minutes. 

The motion was agreed to. 

The Vice President. The Chair appoints Mr. Martin, 
Mr. Saulsbury, Mr. Stone, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Lodge, Mr. 
Knox, and Mr. New as the committee to introduce the 
visitors to the Senate Chamber. 

The Senate thereupon took a recess for 30 minutes. 

At 12 o'clock and 15 minutes p. m. the members of the 
Italian Mission to the Government of the United States 
were escorted by the committee appointed by the Vice 
President into the Senate Chamber, the members of the 
Mission being — 

His Royal Highness Ferdinando di' Savoia, Prince of 
Udine. 

Tenente de Zara, aid to the Prince. 

His excellency the Hon. Enrico Arlotta, Minister of 
Transportation. 

His excellency Marquis Luigi Borsarelli di Rifreddo, 
Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. 

Hon. Francesco Saverio Nitti, member of the Chamber 
of Deputies. 

39 



40 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Hon. Augusto Ciuffelli, member of the Chamber of 
Deputies. 

Cavaliere de Parente, Secretary of Legation and Secre- 
tary of Mission. 

Duke of Sangro, aid to Senator Marconi. 

Cavaliere Pietra, of the Commercial Mission. 

Gen. Guglielmotti, Military Attache. 

Commander Vannutelli, Naval Attache. 

Count V. Macchi di Cellere, Ambassador Extraordinary 
and Plenipotentiary, accompanied the Mission to the 
Senate Chamber, and also Hon. William Phillips, Assistant 
Secretary of State; Lieut. Col. J. C. Gilmore, United States 
Army; and Mr. Warren Robbins, of the State Department. 

The Prince of Udine was seated on the right of the Vice 
President and Count di Cellere upon his left. 

ADDRESS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT. 

The Vice President. Senators, it will perhaps rejoice 
you hereafter to remember that within a very few days 
you have had the honor and pleasure of participating in 
three great historic scenes. For myself, I may say that I 
am very glad the distinguished visitors and myself both 
belong to posterity rather than to ancestry, for I have a 
historic recollection that some 1,900 years ago the ances- 
tors of these distinguished gentlemen were pursuing 
through the islands of Britain my ancestors, clad in sheep- 
skin. 

I am glad that I have lived in a time when the eagles of 
the Senate and the people of Rome come in peace to visit 
the American eagle in the Senate of the United States. 
[Applause.] 

History sometimes reverses itself and sometimes repeats 
itself. When Rome stood exclusively for power and sought 
to bring the habitable globe under her control she never 
quite succeeded in conquering the Belgian people. Nine- 
teen hundred years after that failure the Roman people 
have concluded that what Rome as the representative of 



The Italian War Mission. 41 

power could not do no other representative of power shall 
ever be permitted to do. [Applause.] 

History repeats itself in another instance. When I was 
trying to ascertain the history of this great people, digging 
it out of the original, I learned as I pronounce it in the 
Hoosier vulgate, that one of the great Romans closed each 
of his addresses in the Roman Senate with this remarkable 
statement : ' ' Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam. ' ' 
History, I hope, again repeats itself in that the people of 
the seven-hilled city beside the yellow Tiber have resolved 
that for themselves and for humanity the house of Haps- 
burg must be destroyed. [Loud applause.] 

It is my honor and my pleasure to present to you the 
representative of the people of Italy, the Prince of Udine. 
[Loud applause.] 

ADDRESS BY PRINCE UDINE. 

Prince Udine. Mr. President and gentlemen of the 
Senate, I consider it a great honor for the mission of His 
Majesty, the King of Italy, to be welcomed by the Ameri- 
can Senate ; it is also a great honor for me, and a source of 
deep satisfaction, to greet you on behalf of my country 
and to speak in this glorious assembly, which has never 
forgotten the noble traditions of democracy and the prin- 
ciples of liberty, in the name of which it was constituted. 

In this hour of danger, in which military absolutism is 
threatening everyone, there are nations that have for- 
gotten old and new competitions and have united to 
defeat this menace to the common safety. We are in a 
more fortunate position. Between the United States of 
America and Italy there has never been any cause of 
conflict. Therefore, in your history and in ours there is 
no page which should be forgotten in this hour of brother- 
hood. In our present alliance we need not forget any war, 
nor any rivalry, nor any strife. If nothing brings men 
closer together than to fight for the same ideals, and to 
face the sufferings and the dangers of a great war, for 



42 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

the cause of justice and of humanity, we must acknowl- 
edge that this new and closer union means for us a greater 
bond of sympathy and solidarity in addition to those 
which already linked us. 

This long friendship without strife, this union without 
mistrust, this cloudless future, are enhanced by the fact 
that both our peoples are at war, not because of any 
imminent danger that threatened us but to defend the 
same ideals of humanity and justice. [Applause.] 

Nearly three years have elapsed since Europe, without 
any justifying motive, perhaps without any motive at all 
beyond the will of a small military oligarchy, was driven 
into the greatest conflict which human history records. 
The struggle has extended beyond Europe, and now a 
great part of humanity is suffering the anguish of a war 
which it did not desire and in which it did not believe. 
So much wealth, the fruit of long labor and suffering, has 
been destroyed; so many noble lives, for which the future 
held bright hopes, have been cut off before their time, that 
we can not bear to think of this spectacle of destruction 
without profound grief. 

But a deeper anguish is stirring our souls. That which 
has grieved us more than the wealth destroyed, more than 
the lives cut off in the flower of their youth, is the sight 
of cultivated and intelligent nations who, but yesterday, 
shared with us all a communion of life and intellect, who 
have now denied those principles of humanity and of 
justice which were the result of long centuries of work and 
the great and difficult conquest of civiHzation. 

Little nations, which were entirely guiltless and which, 
within their small territory, contained masterpieces of art 
and treasures of industry, have been barbarously sacri- 
ficed. 

In the conquered countries personal slavery has returned 
as in the worst periods of medieval invasions. 

You know what methods have been introduced into 
submarine warfare, how nothing has been respected, 
neither neutral vessels, nor Red Cross ships, nor inoffensive 



The Italian War Mission. 43 

travelers, nor women and children, who, even in times 
which we consider barbarous, enjoyed protection and 
safety. 

In the enemy's camp science has perhaps sought to 
justify all these excesses. Will the human conscience 
ever be able to justify them? 

Your wars have been fought for independence and for 
liberty, and your heroes have been men such as George 
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln — 
human heroes, shining lights of the intellect, who looked 
with a kindly heart even upon their adversaries. [Ap- 
plause.] 

We, too, after having suffered greatly at the hands of 
foreign oppressors, have conquered liberty and independ- 
ence; and our heroes, the men who gathered around 
Victor Emanuel II, and gave Italy unity and freedom, 
were men such as Cavour, Garibaldi, Mazzini, champions 
of idealism, men who belonged to humanity rather than 
to their own country, pure glories of the world's democracy. 
[Applause.] 

In your wars and in ours an ideal light has guided us, 
and our efforts were directed toward a most noble aim. 
What ideals did those who have brought so much suffering 
upon the world aim at outside the dominion of force and 
the triumph of violence ? 

Gentlemen of the Senate, for nearly three years our 
continent has been involved in this great struggle, and it 
looked with anxious eyes toward your great and free 
country. We knew that the European war had increased 
your trade and given new vigor to your industries. Many 
feared that because of the ocean that divides us the great 
cry of grief of oppressed Belgium would only sound faintly 
in your ears; many feared that, absorbed by the activi- 
ties of industry and labor, you would fail to take an in- 
terest in our struggle and in our sorrows. We, however, 
looked toward you with trusting sympathy; we felt that 
the great fatherland of liberty, the noble democracy which 
offered its hospitality to all the people of Europe, without 



44 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

distinction of race, of religion, or of languages, and granted 
to all of them the protection of the same just and humane 
laws, could not remain indifferent, [Applause.] 

Nevertheless, we awaited your decision with anxiety, 
and it seemed to us that the holiness of our cause was in 
need of recognition by those who from afar would judge 
us with m.ore serenity. 

You waited to intervene until violence and offenses 
against right had become clearer and more evident. 

When your flag, the stars of which, growing in number 
symbolize the growing prosperity of Am-erica and the 
triumphs of American labor — when your flag, always uni- 
versally respected, was insulted, you hesitated no longer, 
and your mighty accents of promise and of faith rang in 
our ears. [Applause.] 

Your Nation has colonized immense territories; it has 
created powerful industries; it has developed an ever- 
growing trade. You bring all the enthusiasm of your 
national youth to science and to labor. Our enemies are 
aware that you will bring into the war, which is flooding 
Europe with blood and making the earth barren, the 
invaluable strength of your men and of your wealth. 

For this most noble adherence to our cause, given with- 
out any thought of conquest or of material wealth, we 
shall always be grateful to you. [Applause.] 

But, gentlemen of the Senate, you tsring us to-day 
something which is far greater than the help of men, of 
wealth, or of food; you bring us the sacred recognition 
of our right; you bring us moral confidence and the con- 
viction — nay, rather the faith — that our cause is holy 
and that the free democracies, and even the greatest 
among them, share our feelings, our spirit, and our hopes. 

How greatly the knowledge of your approval has helped 
us I need not tell you, who are strong men, who did not 
hesitate to enter into the whirlpool of war, and who pre- 
ferred the hard way of duty to a comfortable and resigned 
indifference. [Applause.] 



The Italian War Mission. 45 

The message of your President, as our sovereign has 
said, is worthy, by the nobihty of its conceptions and the 
dignity of its form, to rank with the most inspiring pages 
in the history of ancient and immortal Rome. [Applause.] 
It was greeted with the enthusiasm of faith when it made 
clear the objects of the war and defined the aims of 
American action. Our soldiers, at the foot of the snowy 
Alps, amid the atrocious life of underground trenches; 
our sailors, defying the treacherous warfare of the subma- 
rines, the populations of France and of Belgium, suffer- 
ing under the most cruel servitude, could not read it 
without a profound emotion. 

By proclaimxing that right is more precious than peace; 
that autocratic governments, supported by the force of 
arms, are a menace to civilization; by affirming the ne- 
cessity of guaranteeing the safety of the world's democra- 
cies; by proclaiming the right of small nations to live 
and to prosper, America has now, through the action of 
her President, acquired a title of mierit which history will 
never forget. [Applause.] 

You decided to take part in the war not by a sudden im- 
pulse but after having seen its full extent and m.easured 
all its horrors. And though you were able to choose 
freely between the tranquillity of a peace resigned to evil 
and the pain of a participation, which will require at 
your hands sacrifices of wealth and of lives, you did not 
hesitate. All this we appreciate very deeply, and every 
effort of yours to shorten the war will be blessed by mil- 
lions of human creatures, victims of the greatest bar- 
barity. [Applause.] 

The increase of material wealth, the marvels of industry, 
the progress of science, all these are as nothing if their 
aim be not the moral elevation of mankind. 

There are sorrows which elevate men more than any 
joys; sacrifices which ennoble more than any successes. 

By our sacrifices we must prepare the way for a hu- 
manity in which collective violence shall no longer be 
possible, and in the bosom of which each nation may 



46 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

freely unfold its activity and realize that social justice 
which is the divine goal to which we are all tending, each 
in his own way. [Applause.] 

Italy, gentlemen of the Senate, entered into the war 
with aims equal to those which you pursue. Her terri- 
tory had not been invaded, her insecure boundaries had 
not been violated. Our people understood that the sac- 
rifice of free nations was the prelude to their own sacrifice, 
and that we could not remain indifferent without denying 
the very reasons of our existence. [Applause.] 

Italy has suffered more than any other nation in Europe 
the horror of foreign domination, the martyrdom of in- 
vasion and pillage; and, therefore, she will never forget 
the principles which presided over her birth and which 
constitute her strength and her defense. 

Italy wants the safety of her boundaries and her coasts, 
and she wants to secure herself against new aggressions. 
Italy wants to deliver from long-standing martyrdom 
populations of Italian race and language that have been 
persecuted implacably, and are nevertheless prouder than 
ever of their Italian nationality. [Applause.] 

But Italy has not been and never will be an element of 
discord in Europe ; and as she willed her own free national 
existence at the cost of any sacrifice, so she will con- 
tribute with all her strength to the free existence and de- 
velopment of other nations. 

By increasing the ruthlessness of submarine warfare 
and thus rendering navigation unsafe and dangerous, our 
enemies, who were not able to defeat our soldiers by the 
force of arms, hope to win the war by increasing misery 
and suffering. They hope that our powerful ally. Great 
Britain, will lack food; that France will lack food and 
men; and that Italy will lack especially food, and that 
which is more necessary, coal for the war, for industries, 
and for railways. The problem of shipping is for all of us 
the greatest problem of the war. 

With our united efforts we shall vanquish all these dif- 
ficulties; and that which the force of arms, secretly pre- 



The Italian War Mission. 47 

pared and unexpectedly employed, was not able to accom- 
plish will not be accomplished by disloyal means on land 
and water. We shall triumph over all these difficulties if 
we continue our efforts in brotherly agreement, united 
by the great duty which we have now voluntarily taken 
upon us for a cause which is superior to all worldly in- 
terests and which partakes of an almost divine nobility. 
[Applause.] 

The Mission of which I have the honor to be the head 
and in which there are representatives of the Senate of 
the Kingdom, of the Chamber of Deputies, and members 
of the Government, desires to express through me the 
liveliest sympathy to the representatives of the American 
people. [Applause.] 

May God protect our two nations. Italy, which has 
given the world three civilizations, considers herself 
worthily at your side in this hour, full of sorrow it is true, 
but also great because of its moral nobility. [Applause.] 
A day will come when we shall be proud of our suffering 
and when our sacrifices will be rewarded. Let us en- 
deavor, gentlemen, to bring that day nearer which shall 
put an end to the sorrows of so many who are suffering 
and dying without guilt. Let us hasten its coming, 
worthy representatives of the American people, by our 
firm will to obtain the victory and by our complete 
solidarity of ideals, of sacrifices, and of deeds. [Applause.] 

The Vice President. Prince Udine and the members 
of the Italian mission will be gratified to meet the Mem- 
bers of the United States Senate. 

The members of the Italian Mission took their places at 
the left of the Vice President's desk, and the Members of 
the Senate were presented to them by the committee 
appointed by the Vice President. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted from the 
Chamber, and, at 12 o'clock and 45 minutes p. m., upon 
the expiration of the recess, the Senate reassembled. 

(Cong. Record, pp.3300, 3301, 3302.) 



48 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES. 

Thursday, May 31, 1917. 



INVITATION. 

Mr. LaGuardia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous con- 
sent that the Speaker be authorized to extend an invita- 
tion to the Italian Mission now visiting the United States 
to visit this House on Saturday next, at an hour con- 
venient to themselves, and that the House stand in re- 
cess for 30 minutes at that time that they may be received 
on the floor of the House. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from New York [Mr. 
TaGuardia] asks unanimous consent that the Speaker be 
authorized to invite the Italian Mission to visit the House 
on Saturday next, at such time as shall be satisfactory to 
them, and that the House stand in recess for 30 minutes 
at that time to receive them on the floor of the House. 
Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

(Cong. Record, p. 3326.) 



Friday, June 1, 1917. 



THE ITALIAN MISSION. 

The Speaker. The Chair lays before the House a com- 
munication from the Italian Mission, which the Clerk will 
read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

June I, 1917. 
The Hon. Champ Clark, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Dear Mr. Speaker: I am directed by His Royal Highness 

the Prince of Udine and by the members of the Italian Mission 

to express to you and to ask you to be so good as to convey to 

the House of Representatives their cordial thanks for the kind 



The Italian War Mission. 49 

invitation you have addressed to them. His royal highness and 
the members of the Mission will have the honor to visit the House 
to-morrow, Saturday, June 2, at 11.45. 
Believe me, Mr. Speaker, 



Yours, very respectfully, 



P. DE Parent©, 
Secretary of the Mission. 



(Cong. Record, p. 3396.) 



Saturday, June 2, 1917. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Speaker. The Chair appoints as the committee to 
escort the Italian Mission to the floor of the House Mr. 
Flood, Mr. Linthicum, Mr. Goodwin of Arkansas, Mr. 
Cooper of Wisconsin, Mr. Porter, and Mr. LaGuardia, and, 
in accordance with the order hertofore made, the House 
will stand in recess for 30 minutes. 

Accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 45 minutes a. m.) the 
House stood in recess. 

At II o'clock and 55 minutes a. m. the Commissioners 
of the Italian Government to the Government of the 
United States, His Royal Highness Ferdinando di' vSavoia, 
Prince of Udine; Tene de Zara, aid to the Prince; His 
Excellency the Hon. Enrico Arlotta, Minister of Trans- 
portation; His Excellency Marquis Luigi Borsarelli di 
Rifreddo, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs; 
Hon. Guglielmo Marconi, Senator of the Kingdom; Hon. 
Francesco Saverio Nitti, member of the Chamber of 
Deputies; Hon. Augusto Ciuffelli, member of the Chamber 
of Deputies; Cavaliere de Parente, Secretary of Legation 
and Secretary of the Mission; Duke of Sangro, aid to 
Senator Marconi; Cavaliere Pietra, of the Commercial 
Mission; Gen. Guglielnotti, Military Attach^; and Com- 
mander Vannutelli, Naval Attache, accompanied by 
Count V. Macchi di Cellere, Ambassador Extraordinary 
and Plenipotentiary accredited to the United States; 

16720-8. Doc. 87, 65-1—17 4 



50 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Mr. Breckinridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State; 
and Lieut. Col. J. C. Gilmore, United States Army. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted to the Speak- 
er's rostrum amid prolonged applause and cheers, and 
the Prince of Udine was seated on the right of the 
Speaker. 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Represen- 
tatives, I present to you His Royal Highness, the Prince 
of Udine. [Applause.] 

ADDRESS BY THE PRINCE OP UDINE. 

Mr. Speaker and Members oe the House: No one 
could appreciate the honor of your invitation more than 
myself and my colleagues. 

To address the Representatives of the greatest among 
new democracies at a time when the destinies of humanity 
are awaiting decision, at a time when our destiny and 
yours depend on the issue of the war, to bring you the 
greeting of distant brothers who are fighting for the same 
ideals at the foot of the snowy Alps or in the deadly 
trenches, to express to you our feelings and our sympathy 
for your feelings — all those are for me so many reasons 
for legitimate pride. [Applause.] 

During our brief stay among you we have found every- 
where the most joyous welcome and the most friendly 
cordiality. Everywhere it was not only friendly words 
that greeted us but also friendly souls who welcomed us. 

We have felt deeply moved by this. 

We know, gentlemen, that such cordial sentiments, such 
hearty friendship, are meant not so much for our persons 
as for our beautiful and distant country; our country, of 
which every foot is sacred to us because of its century^old 
greatness and sufferings and because of the noble share 
which it has always had in human thought and history. 
[Applause.] 

But your great Republic, when it grants us such 
courteous hospitality, honors still more that which at the 



The Italian War Mission. 51 

present moment is dearest to us — the efforts of Italy's 
soldiers, the noble sacrifice of so many young lives freely 
given for their country and for civilization and in defense 
of ideals which you have made your own and which we all 
love. 

In the name of the soldiers of Italy, one of whom I am 
proud to be ; in the name of all those who are fighting on 
the mountains, on the plains, and on the treacherous seas; 
in the name of those to whom your words of friendship 
have brought a message of hope and faith across the ocean, 
I thank you from the bottom of my heart. [Applause.] 

The aims of the war for the allied nations were pointed 
out by President Wilson in his magnificent message, which 
will not only remain in the minds of our descendants as a 
historic event, but which has already aroused, because of 
its moral force, intense admiration among all civilized 
peoples. We shall be satisfied, whatever sacrifices we 
may be called upon to make, when the rights of humanity 
are assured, when the guarantees of peace are effectual, 
and when free nations are able to work for their own pros- 
perity and elevation. 

President Wilson has proclaimed that to the Americans 
right is more precious than peace and that the people of 
the United States are ready to shed their blood in defense 
of those principles in the name of which they became a 
nation. 

For the sake of the same principles we are ready to face 
every sacrifice and every sorrow. 

We are fighting a terrible war. Our enemies were long 
since prepared for it, while we were content to live, 
trusting in peace, and only sought to contribute to the 
development of our people and to the progress of our 
country, almost unconscious of the clouds which so sud- 
denly grew dark over our heads. 

We came into the war when we realized that there was 
no room for neutrals and that neutrality was neither pos- 
sible nor desirable, when the freedom of all democratic 



52 Visitmg War Missions to the United States. 

nations was threatened and the very existence of free 
peoples was at stake. 

Bver since that day we have not hesitated before any 
danger or any suffering. Our wide fighting front presents 
conditions of exceptional difficulty. The enemy is, or 
has been until now, in possession of the best positions. 
He has dug deep trenches; he has concealed his guns 
among the mountains. We are even compelled to fight 
at altitudes of eight and ten thousand feet, in spots where 
it seemed im.possible that any fighting should ever take 
place. We are alone on our wide and treacherous front, 
and every step forward that we take, every progress that 
we accomplish, costs us great efforts and many lives. 
The enthusiasm of our soldiers has often helped them 
among the glaciers of the Alps and the many snares of 
the Carso to triumph over difficulties which seemed to 
defy every human effort. But the deep faith which burns 
in them kept their strength alive. [Applause.] 

We must, we will, triumph over other difficulties and 
other insidious devices. 

Nature, which gave us our pure skies, our mild climate, 
has denied us almost entirely the two great necessities of 
modern industry — coal and iron. Therefore, with indus- 
tries still in course of formation, Italy has had ever since 
their inception to overcome obstacles which appeared in- 
superable. Italy occupies one of the first places in Europe 
as regards the number and power of her waterfalls; but 
this wealth, which constitutes the great reserve of the 
future, has only been partly exploited until now. The 
treacherous enemy, who has long since prepared the 
weapons of aggression, not having obtained victory on 
the field, is now trying by means of submarine warfare to 
endanger our existence, to cause a scarcity of food, and, 
above all, a scarcity of the coal which Italy needs for 
her ammunition factories, for her railways, and for her 
industries. 

We have reduced our consumption of all necessities, 
and we are ready to reduce it still further within the 



The Italian War Mission. 53 

limits of possibility. We do not complain of the priva- 
tions that we have to endure. Wealth itself has no value 
if life and liberty are endangered. And when millions of 
soldiers offer their young lives for their country there is 
not one among the civil population who is not ready to 
make any sacrifice. 

But to overcome the dangers of the submarines, which, 
in defiance of every law of humanity, are not only destroy- 
ing wealth but endangering the lives of peaceful travelers, 
sinking hospital ships, and murdering women and chil- 
dren, we must all make a great effort. 

We must unite all our forces to oppose the strongest 
resistance to the insidious devices of the enemy. You 
possess a great and magnificent industrial organization. 
You, more than anyone, are in a position to put an end 
to the enemy's barbarous dream and to create with your 
energy much more than he can destroy. [Applause.] 

This great and terrible trial can only make us better 
men. They who know how to oft'er to the fatherland their 
wealth and their lives; they who give themselves unto 
death and, more than themselves, that which is sweetest 
and most sacred, their children; they who are ready to 
suffer and to die; they will know when the morrow dawns 
how to contribute to civilization new elements of moral 
nobility and of strength. [Applause.] 

We must not grieve over our sorrows. When we fight 
for the rights of humanity we are conscious that we are 
elevating ourselves morally. 

When America proclaimed herself one with us a great 
joy ran through every city and every little village of Italy. 
We knew the full value of your cooperation, and at the 
same time we appreciated the nobility of your sentiments. 

The families of 3,000,000 Italians who dwell in the 
United States under the protection of your hospitable and 
just laws felt a deep sense of joy. 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, the words 
which His Majesty the King of Italy, first among our 



54 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

soldiers, wrote to your President expressed his feelings 
and those of all his people. 

To-morrow when the news reaches Italy that this 
Congress, which represents the will of the American 
Nation, has desired to give to our Mission the supreme 
honor of welcoming it in its midst your friendly words 
will reach the farthermost points where men are fighting 
and suffering. And in the trenches, at the foot of the 
majestic Alps, there where the struggle is bitterest and 
where death is ever present, a thrill of joy and of hope 
will be felt — the joy of a sincere union, the hope of certain 
victory. [Prolonged applause and cheers.] 

The Speaker. I am certain that every Member of 
the House of Representatives will be delighted to see 
and hear the man who invented wireless telegraphy, 
Signor Marconi. [Prolonged applause.] 

ADDRESS BY SIGNOR MARCONI. 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House: I appre- 
ciate very highly the honor and the privilege of being 
allowed to say a word to you in this assembly. Up to 
two minutes ago I did not know that I would have the 
honor of being called upon to say a few words here, and 
I sincerely thank the Speaker for the privilege. I have 
had the pleasure of listening to the words spoken by the 
chief of oxrr Mission, His Royal Highness, the Prince of 
Udine, and there is very little that I could add to his ex- 
pressions or to his feelings, which are the feelings of the 
whole of Italy, which are feelings of friendship for this 
country and of appreciation for the great step which it has 
taken in joining us and our allies in Europe in this great 
war. [Applause.] There is one thing that I can add, 
however. It is that it was my privilege to live for many 
years in America [applause], and I think I know America 
and Americans fairly well. I flatter myself that I know 
them very well. No one more than myself rejoices in the 
fact that we in Italy have America with us. I have 



The Italian War Mission. 55 

worked in America and America has always been, in a 
large way, in my plans, for without America my work 
could not have succeeded. 

I have learned to appreciate in America two things that 
I can express in two words — justice and fair play. [Ap- 
plause.] You are ready to back anything that you think 
may be of good to the world, and you are ready to encour- 
age any honest endeavor to advance science or the applica- 
tions of science; and although you are the greatest 
industrial nation in the world, although there is healthy 
com.petition — and it is only by that healthy competition 
there can be such progress — what you do here is always 
fair. I can say that with absolute conviction from the 
bottom of my heart. 

Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House, I thank you 
very much for the way in which you have received this 
Mission, for the way in which you have received the utter- 
ances of His Royal Highness, the President of our Mission, 
and for the way in which you have received the very few 
remarks I have been able to improvise. [Prolonged ap- 
plause and cheers.] 

The members of the Italian Mission then took their 
places at the right of the Speaker's rostrum and the 
Members of the House of Representatives were presented 
to them. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Hall of the House. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 3478, 3479. 3480.) 



THE RUSSIAN 
WAR MISSION 



57 



THE RUSSIAN WAR MISSION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

Tuesday, June 26, 1917. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

Mr. Martin. Mr. President, in order that Senators may 
have an opportunity to be presented to the distinguished 
Russians who are now the guests of the Nation I move 
that the Senate take a recess for 30 minutes. 

The motion was agreed to. 

The Vice President. The Chair appoints Mr. Martin, 
Mr. Gallinger, Mr. Saulsbury, Mr. Brady, Mr. Stone, and 
Mr. Lodge as a committee to present our distinguished 
guests to the Senate. 

The Senate thereupon took a recess for 30 minutes. 

At 12 o'clock and 15 minutes p. m. the members of the 
Russian Mission to the Government of the United States 
were escorted by the committee appointed by the Vice 
President into the Senate Chamber, the members of the 
Mission being the Russian Extraordinary Ambassador 
Boris A. Bakhmetiejff; Lieut. Gen. Roop, representing the 
Russian General Staff; Captain of the Guard Dubassoff, 
aid-de-camp; Prof. Lomonossoff, member of the Council 
of Engineers, representative of the Ministry of Ways and 
Communications and head of the Railroad Mission; A. 
Nikolaieff, colonel of the General Staff, Military Attach^; 
M. Novitsky, representative of the Minister of Finance; 
Capt. Shutt, from the Ministry of War; M. Soukine, 
diplomatic representative; and Alexander Smirnoff, lieu- 
tenant, Russian Army, Russian Embassy. 

Maj. N. K, Averill, United States Army; Hon. Breck- 
inridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State; and Mr. Jef- 

59 



6o Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

ferson Caffery, United States Diplomatic Service, Depart- 
ment of State, aid to the Mission, accompanied the Mis- 
sion into the Senate Chamber. 

Ambassador Bakhmetieff was seated on the right of 
the Vice President and I^ieut. Gen. Roop upon liis left. 

ADDRESS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT. 

The Vice President. Senators, the kaleidoscope of cur- 
rent history is being turned so rapidly that to the normal 
eye the combinations of yesterday are forgotten, of to-day 
are uncertain, and of to-morrow are unknown. And yet 
as from time to time there are unfolded in this most 
sacred and historic spot portions of the panorama of the 
greatest tragedy that has been enacted since Calvary there 
stands out one clear-cut central figure, the figure of the 
dauntless and undaunted man who dares to draw his 
sword either to preserve or to obtain for himself and for 
his fellows the right of self-government, the heritage of 
life, of liberty, and of the pursuit of happiness. [Ap- 
plause.] It matters but little to us the feature and the 
form of that man, his lineage or his language, if he speak 
in the full and confident tones of a manhood, or in the 
lisping tongue of infantile, possession of those rights. 
But if we hear from his lips the golden rule of statecraft 
then he is our brother. [Applause.] He has a right to 
be, and he has a right to be here. 

We are honored this day by the representatives of a peo- 
ple who have been oiur long-time and unvarying friends. 
[Applause.] It is not possible for me to think in the terms 
of countries and continents and governments. My mind 
thinks only in the terms of men; and perhaps this is as 
it should be, for the Goddess of Liberty is not always a 
strong and virile woman. In the hours of peace she 
becomes pale and anemic, and it is oftentimes necessary 
to keep her alive by transfusing into her veins the blood 
of patriotic and self-sacrificing men, 

I can not think of France, of England, of Italy, of 
America; I think only of Viviani and Joffre, of Balfour 



The Russian War Mission. 6i 

and Haig, of Udine and Cadorni, of Wilson and Pershing. 
[Loud applause.] On this day as I look into the eyes, the 
storm-tossed eyes, of these our guests, I can not think 
of Russia as the land of Alexander and Nicholas. She 
seems to me to be only the home of Krapotkin and of 
Tolstoi. 

Travelers tell us that there is a point in Iceland where the 
rays of the setting and of the rising sun mingle. Already 
upon the far-flu^.g eastern battle line of Europe the rays 
of the setting sun of autocracy ha,ve mingled with the rays 
of the rising sun of democracy. [Applause.] May that 
sun grow in light and warmth, and may it be undimmed 
by the clouds of internal dissension. May democracy 
everywhere understand that its first duty is to make a 
democrat a free man everywhere on earth. [Applause.] 

Last week w^e went with little Belgium sadly to her 
Gethsemane; to-day let us go gladly, with mighty Russia, 
to her Mount of Transfiguration. [Applause.] 

I present to you the chairman of this commission, Mr. 
B. A. Bakhmetieff. 

ADDRESS BY AMBASSADOR BORIS BAKHMETIEFF. 

Ambassador Bakhmetieff. Mr. President and gentle- 
men of the Senate, at the outset permit me to express 
to you sincere thanks and keen appreciation for the warm 
reception you have so graciously given to the members 
of the Mission and to myself. Great is the honor you 
have bestowed by permitting me to address your distin- 
guished body, abrogating thus a custom which has been 
upheld for more than a centtuy, but still more gratifying 
is the expression of cordial sympathy and friendly feeling 
which have been so manifestly exhibited by your reception. 

From the moment of our arrival in this country we have 
been deeply affected by the extraordinary greeting 
accorded us and by the constant expression of hearty wel- 
come and sincere sympathy with which we have been 
hailed on all sides. 



62 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

That bonds of friendship and sympathy united the 
people of the two nations we knew before we departed 
from Russia. They were amply manifested during the 
early days of the revolution. The act of prompt recogni- 
tion of our new Government has been of incalculable value. 
For the brotherly encouragement which you gave us, 
and for the noble manner in which you so generously 
stretched forth a helping hand, we are here, in behalf of 
the new Russia, to express to you our deepest and most 
heartfelt gratitude. [Applause.] 

We have come here as well to make clear the spirit and 
meaning of the great events taking place in our country. 
A thorough understanding is indispensable to enable our 
Mission to accomplish the important task of establishing 
a close and effective cooperation between the two countries 
for common action and common cause. With the greatest 
hope do I look forward to the results of such cooperation 
so vital to our mutual desire to form a league of honor 
among free nations on the smoking ruins of autocratic 
militarism. 

At this moment all eyes are turned on Russia. Many 
hopes and many doubts are raised by the tide of events 
in the greatest of revolutions at an epoch in the world's 
greatest war. Justifiable is the attention, lawful the 
hopes, and naturally conceivable the anxiety. The fate 
of nations, the fate of the world is at stake, all dependent 
on the fate of Russia. Freedom and peace will be the 
blessings of the future if Russia happily emerges from the 
struggle a powerful democracy, sparkling with the gal- 
lantry of her army returning from fields won in common 
strife with her allies. [Great applause.] 

An unprecedented epoch of spiritual depression, a new 
period of strenuous and anxious military depression 
would follow, should Russia fail to accomplish her task 
of political regeneration or should she collapse for economi- 
cal reasons or the insufficiency of her arms. In all frank- 
ness and sincerity do I expose my cause, confident in 
your good will and paying tribute to the manifest feelings 
of sympathy, may I say affection? 



The Russian War Mission. 63 

I am not going to conceal the gravity of the situation 
that confronts the Russian Provisional Government. The 
revolution called for the reconstruction of the very founda- 
tions of our national life. It is not easy to comprehend 
what it means to reorganize all of Russia on democratic 
lines. Such work involves the whole of our social, econ- 
omic, and political relations. The entire State structure 
is affected by the changes, involving village, district, 
county ; in fact, every part from the smallest to the central 
State. The creation anew of a country of boundless 
expanse on distinctly new principles will, of course, take 
time, and impatience should not be shown in the consum- 
mation of so grand an event as Russia's entry into the 
ranks of free nations. 

We should not forget that in this immense transforma- 
tion various interests will seek to assert themselves, 
and until the work of settlement is completed a struggle 
among opposing currents is inevitable and exaggerations 
can not be avoided. Attempts on the part of disorganiz- 
ing elements to take advantage of this moment of 
transition must be expected and met with calmness and 
confidence. [Applause.] 

In exposing to you a true picture of the situation I feel 
that it is my duty to present to you two considerations 
which make me feel that Russia has passed the stage of 
the world when the future appears vague and uncertain. 

In the first place, it is the firm conviction of the necessity 
of equality, which is widely developing and firmly estab- 
lishing itself throughout the country. 

In the eyes of the Russian people this principle of 
equality is based on the fertile democratic doctrine that 
governments derive their just power from the consent of 
the governed [prolonged applause], and hence that a 
strong government must be created by the will of the 
people. [Renewed applause.] 

Three days ago in the House of Representatives I stated 
that a strong majority of the Russian people had united 
around the coalition cabinet on a national program. I 



64 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

mentioned the confidence and powerful support which the 
Government is at present enjoying, and which from day to 
day gives it more strength and determination, not only to 
suppress acts of lawlessness on the part of disorganizing 
forces but also to carry out the constructive work of 
national reorganization. 

Since then my latest advices give joyful confirmation of 
the establishment of a firm power, strong in its democratic 
precepts and activity, strong in the trust reposed in it by 
the people in its ability to enforce law and order. [Pro- 
longed applause.] 

In the second place, and no less important, is the growing 
conviction that the issues of the revolution and the future 
of Russia's freedom are closely connected with the fighting 
might of the country. It is such power, it is the force of 
arms, which alone can defend and make certain the 
achievements of the revolution against autocratic aggres- 
sion. [Applause.] 

There has been a period, closely following the revolution, 
of almost total suspension of all military activity, a period 
of what appeared to be disintegration of the army, a period 
which gave rise to serious doubts and to gloomy forebod- 
ings. At the same time there ensued unlimited freedom of 
speech and of the press, which afforded opportunities for 
expression of the most extreme and antinational views, 
from all of which resulted widespread rumors throughout 
the world that Russia would abandon the war and conclude 
a separate peace with the central powers. 

With all emphasis and with the deepest conviction, may 
I reiterate the statement that such rumors were wholly 
without foundation in fact. [Great applause.] Rr.ssia 
rejects with indignation any idea of separate peace. 
[Prolonged applause.] What my country is striving for is 
the establishment of a firm and lasting peace between 
democratic nations. Russia is firmly convinced that a 
separate peace would mean the triumph of German autoc- 
racy, would render lasting peace impossible, create the 
greatest danger for democracy and liberty, and ever be a 



The Russian War Mission. 65 

threatening menace to the new-bom freedom of Russia. 
[Applause.] 

These rumors were due to misapprehension of the signif- 
icance and eventful processes of reorganization which the 
army was to undergo as a result of the emancipation of the 
country. Like the nation, the army, an offspring of the 
people, had to be built on democratic lines. Such work 
takes time, and friction and partial disorganization must 
be overcome. 

To adapt new principles to a body so huge, so very mani- 
fold, and so self-dependent as is a modem army, is no sim- 
ple task. Patience is required to mold it in accordance 
with forms of democracy and personal liberty, preserving 
at the same time discipline so essential for success on the 
field of battle. 

One must also realize that the time has passed when the 
fates of nations can be decided by an irresponsible govern- 
ment or by a few individuals and that the people must 
shed their blood for issues to them unknown. We live in a 
democratic epoch where people who sacrifice their lives 
should fully realize the reason therefor and the principles 
for which they are fighting. [Applause.] 

Just as the Russian people had to undergo a process 
of reorganization and political revolution, so also did the 
Russian Army. It was necessary for it to live out illu- 
sions and deceptions and to rally about a program of 
historical necessity and national truth. 

The national program of the Government calls for 
effective organization and consolidation of the army's 
fighting power for offensive as well as defensive purposes. 
[Applause.] This has been the outcome of the crystalli- 
zation of the will of the people. That is the program 
as to warfare which has rallied around the Government, 
Russia's democracy, giving its leaders vigor and strength. 

Conscious of the enormous task, the Provisional Gov- 
ernment is taking measures promptly to restore through- 
out the country conditions of life so deeply disorganized 

16720—8. Doc. 87, 65-1 5 



66 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

by the inefficiency of the previous rulers and to provide 
for whatever is necessary for military success. 

In this respect exceptional and grave conditions provide 
for exceptional means. In close touch with the panpeas- 
ant congress, the Government has taken control of stores 
of food supplies and is providing for effective transpor- 
tation and just distribution. Following the example of 
other countries at war, the Government has undertaken 
the regulation of the production of main products vital 
for the country and the army. The Government at the 
same time is making all endeavors to settle labor diffi- 
culties, taking measures for the welfare of workmen con- 
sistent with active production necessitated by the national 
welfare. 

As to the army, the process of crystallization of the 
national will is expressing itself in a growing sentiment 
of general and common appreciation of events and a 
thorough understanding of the situation. 

Peaceful in its intentions, striving for a lasting peace 
based on democratic principles and established by demo- 
cratic will, the Russian people and its army are rallying 
their forces around the banners of freedom, strengthening 
their ranks in cheerful self -consciousness; to die, but not 
to be slaves. [Great applause.] 

Russia wants the world to be safe for democracy. 

To make it safe means to have democracy rule the 
world. [Prolonged a,pplause.] 

The Vice President. The chairman and members of 
the Russian Mission will be delighted to have presented 
to them the Members of the Senate. 

The members of the Russian Mission took their places 
at the left of the Vice President's desk, and the Members 
of the Senate were presented them by the committee 
appointed by the Vice President. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted from the Cham- 
ber, and (at 12 o'clock and 45 minutes p. m.) the Senate 
reassembled upon the expiration of the recess. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 4665, 4666.) 



The Russian War Mission. 67 

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES. 

Thursday, June 21, 1917. 



INVITATION. 

Mr. SiEGEL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Speaker be authorized to extend an invitation 
to the Russian Mission to visit the House upon Saturday 
next, and that the House take a recess at that time for 
30 minutes. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from New York asks 
unanimous consent that the Speaker be authorized to 
invite the Russian Mission to visit the House on Satur- 
day next, and that the House stand in recess for 30 min- 
utes at that time. Is there objection ? 

There was no objection. 

(Cong. Record, p. 4315') 

Mr. Clark of Missouri. Mr. Chairman, I ask for a min- 
ute. It has nothing to do with this debate. 

The House this morning authorized the Speaker to 
make arrangements with the Commissioners from Russia 
as to what hour they would be here on Saturday. They 
came up to my room a while ago and called on me, and 
they agreed to be here at 12 o'clock. I make this an- 
nouncement so that everybody can know the time. 

(Cong. Record, p. 434a.) 

Saturday, June 23, 1917. 

PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Speaker. The Chair appoints the following com- 
mittee to wait upon our Russian visitors and conduct 
them into the Hall. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Messrs. Flood, Harrison of Mississippi, Stedraan, Sabath, 
Cooper of Wisconsin, Rogers, London, and Siegel. 



68 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

The Speaker. The House will stand in recess under its 
previous order for 30 minutes. 

Thereupon (at 11 o'clock and 56 minutes) the House 
stood in recess. 

At 12 o'clock and 4 minutes p. m. the Commissioners of 
the Russian Republic to the Government of the United 
States, Prof. Boris Bakhmetieff, Chief of the Mission; 
Lieut. Gen. Roop, representing the Russian General Staff; 
Prof. Lomonossoff, chief of the delegation to study rail- 
ways and communications; Prof. Borodine, representing 
the Ministry of Agriculture; Col. Oranovsky, representing 
the Ministry of War to study munitions and supplies ; Mr. 
Novitsky, chief of the financial section; Mr. Soukine, 
diplomatic secretary of the Mission; Capt. Dubassoff, aid- 
de-camp to Ambassador Bakhmetieff; and Capt. Shutt, 
escorted by Mr. Flood, Mr. Stedman, Mr. Harrison of 
Mississippi, Mr. Sabath, Mr. Cooper of Wisconsin, Mr. 
Rogers, Mr. London, and Mr. Siegel, accompanied by Mr. 
C. Onou, charge d'affaires of the Russian Embassy, and 
Mr. Breckenridge Long, Third Assistant Secretary of 
State, entered the Hall of the House. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted to the Speaker's 
rostrum amid prolonged applause and cheers. 

ADDRESSED BY THE SPEAKER. 

The Speaker. The peculiar circumstances under which 
the Russian Commission comes to us justify a few pre- 
liminary words. 

When our fathers proclaimed this Republic at Philadel- 
phia, July 4, 1776, there was only one other republic on 
earth — Switzerland — and the fathers were not certain 
that this one would live till Christmas. It was an even 
break whether it would or not. [Laughter and applause.] 
Now, thanks be to Almighty God, there are 27 republics 
in this world. [Applause.] In a large sense we made 
them, every one [applause] — not by conquering armies, 
not by the mailed hand, but by the wholesomeness of our 



The Russian War Amission. 69 

example [applause]; by teaching all creation the gloiious 
fact that men can govern themselves, [Applause.] Until 
then the theory was that political power descended from 
on high and lighted upon a few tall heads and a little of it 
trickled down upon men below. We reversed all that and 
made it begin at the bottom and go up like the sap in the 
trees in the springtime, and it will go up forever. [Ap- 
plause.] 

Of these 27 republics Russia is the newest and the big- 
gest. [Applause.] It dazzles the imagination to think 
what she may be under free institutions, possessing as she 
does 180,000,000 of people and one-sixth of the land on 
the globe. 

The Russian revolution is the most momentous political 
movement since the French Revolution, 

I present to you the first Russian Ambassador to the 
United States of America from the Republic of Russia. 
[Applause.] 

ADDRESSED BY PROF. BORIS BAKHMETlEFF. 

Prof. Boris Bakhmetieff. Mr. Speaker and gentlemen 
of the House [applause], I am deeply conscious how great 
an honor has been conferred on me and the members of 
my Mission by this gracious reception, I understand 
how unusual it is for this House to accord to foreigners 
the privilege of the floor. I realize that if you were moved 
to make such an exception it was due to the great and 
most extraordinary historic events which have been and 
are now taking place in the world. 

Great indeed is the honor and the privilege to speak 
here, in this House, exemplifying as it does the Constitu- 
tion of the United States — that wonderful document 
which embodies so clearly and yet so tersely the principles 
of free government and democracy. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen of the House, when addressing you on behalf 
of the Government and the people of new Russia, when 
conveying to you the greetings of the new-bom Russian 



70 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

democracy, you will conceive how impressed I am by the 
historical significance of this moment; you will understand 
why my emotions do overwhelm me. 

During the last few months Russia has really lived 
through events of world-wide importance. With a single 
impulse the nation has thrown down the old fetters of 
slavery. Free, she is entering now the dawn of new life, 
joining the ranks of democracy, striving for the happiness 
and the freedom of the world. [Applause.] 

Does not one feel occasionally that the very greatness 
and significance of events are not fully appreciated, due 
to the facility and spontaneity with which the great 
change has been completed ? 

Does not one always realize and conceive what it really 
means to humanity that a nation of 180,000,000, a 
country boundless in expanse, has been suddenly set free 
from the worst of oppression, has been given the joy and 
happiness of a free, self-conscious existence ? [Applause.] 

With what emotions are we inspired who have come 
to you as messengers of these great events, as bearers of 
the new principles proclaimed by the Russian revolution. 

May I be permitted to reiterate the expression of the 
feelings that stir our hearts and, impressed as I am by the 
might and grandeur of the wonderful events, welcome and 
g^eet you on behalf of free Russia? [Applause.] 

Here at the very cradle of representative government I 
feel it proper to recall the very moments of birth of con- 
stitutional life in Russia which presented itself some 12 
years ago at the time of the first Russian revolution. 

It was then that the Duma came into being. From the 
very inception of this assembly the old authority endeav- 
ored to curtail the powers that had been conferred on it. 
Its sole existence was an uninterrupted struggle; but in 
spite thereof, notwithstanding the limitations and nar- 
rowness of election laws, the Duma was bound to play a 
most important part in the national life of Russia. 

It was the very fact of the being of a representative 
body which proved to be so fruitful and powerful. 



The Russian War Mission. 7 1 

It was that mysterious force of representations, force 
which draws everything into the whirlpool of legislative 
power, force the existence of which your American framers 
of the Constitution so deeply recognized and understood. 
It was that force which led the Duma, however limited, 
to express the feelings of Russia and frame her hopes dur- 
ing the world's great crisis, and made the Duma ulti- 
mately the center and the hope of national life. 

It was the Duma who at the epoch when the old author- 
ity by vicious and inefficient management had disorgan- 
ized the supplies of the country and brought the military 
operations to unprecedented reverse; it was the Duma 
who with energy and devotion called the people to organ- 
ize national defense and appealed to the vital forces of the 
country to meet the German attack and save the nation 
from definite subjugation. Again, when it appeared that 
the shortsighted Government, who never took advantage 
of the patriotic enthusiam and national sacrifice, was not 
only incapable of leading the war to a successful end, but 
would inevitably bring Russia to military collapse and 
economic and social ruin, it was the Duma again who at 
that terrible hour proclaimed the nation in danger [ap- 
plause]; it was at the feet of the Duma that the soldiers 
of the revolution deposited their banners and, giving alle- 
giance, brought the revolution to a successful issue. It 
was then that from the ruins of the old regime emerged a 
new order embodied in the provisional government, a 
youthful offspring of the old Duma procreated by the 
forces of the revolution. [Applause.] 

Instead of the old forms there are now being firmly estab- 
lished and deeply embedded in the minds of the nation 
principles that power is reposed and springs from and only 
from the people. [Applause.] To effectuate these prin- 
ciples and to enact appropriate fundamental laws — that is 
going to be the main function of the constitutional assem- 
bly which is to be convoked as promptly as possible. 

This assembly, elected on a democratic basis, is to repre- 
sent the will and constructive power of the nation. It will 



72 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

inaugurate the forms of future political existence as well 
as establish the fundamental basis of economic structure 
of future Russia. Eventually all main questions of na- 
tional being will be brought before and will be decided by 
the constitutional assembly — constitution, civil and crimi- 
nal law, administration, nationalities, religion, reorganiza- 
tion of finance, land problem, conditionment of labor, an- 
nihilation of all restrictive legislation, encouragement of 
intense and fruitful development of the country. These 
are the tasks of the assembly, the aspirations and hopes of 
the nation. 

Gentlemen of the House, do not you really feel that the 
assembly is expected to bring into life once more the grand 
principle which your illustrious President so aptly ex- 
pressed in sublime words " government by consent of the 
governed ' ' ? [Applause . ] 

It is the provisional government that is governing Rus- 
sia at present. It is the task of the provisional gov- 
ernment to conduct Russia safely to the constitutional 
assembly. 

Guided by democratic precepts, the provisional govern- 
ment meanwhile is reorganizing the country on the basis 
of freedom, equality, and self-government; is rebuilding its 
economic and financial structure. 

The outstanding feature of the present government is its 
recognition as fundamental and all important of the prin- 
ciples of legality. It is manifestly understood in Russia 
that the law, having its origin in the people's will, is the 
substance of the very existence of state. [Applause.] 

Reposing confidence in such rule, the Russian people are 
rendering to the new authorities their support. The peo- 
ple are realizing more and more that to the very sake of 
fm-ther freedom law must be maintained and manifesta- 
tion of anarchy suppressed. 

In this respect local life has exemplified wonderful 
exertion of spontaneous public, spirit which has con- 
tributed to the most effective process of self-organization 
of the nation. On many occasions, following the removal 



The Russian War Mission. 73 

of the old authorities, a newly elected administration has 
naturally arisen, conscious of national interest and often 
developing in its spontaneity amazing examples of prac- 
tical statesmanship. 

It is these conditions which provide that the Provi- 
sional Government is gaining every day importance and 
power — is gaining capacity to check elements of disorder 
arising either from attempts of reaction or extremism. 
At the present time the Provisional Government has started 
to make most decisive measures in that respect, employing 
force when necessary, although always striving for a 
peaceful solution. 

The last resolutions which have been framed by the 
Council of Workingmen, the Congress of Peasants, and 
other democratic organizations render the best proof of 
the general understanding of the necessity of creating 
strong power. The coalitionary character of the new 
cabinet, which includes eminent socialist leaders and 
represents all the vital elements of the nation, therefore 
enjoying its full support, is most effectively securing the 
unity and power of the Central Government, the lack of 
which was so keenly felt during the first two months after 
the revolution. 

Realizing the grandeur and complexity of the present 
events and conscious of the danger which is threatening 
the very achievements of the revolution, the Russian 
people are gathering around the new Government, united 
on a "national program." [Applause.] 

It is this program of "national salvation" which has 
united the middle classes as well as the populists, the labor 
elements, and socialists. Deep political wisdom has been 
exhibited by subordinating various class interests and 
differences to national welfare. In this way this Govern- 
ment is supported by an immense majority of the nation, 
and, outside of reactionaries only, is being opposed by 
comparatively small groups of extremists and interna- 
tionalists. 



74 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

As to foreign policy, Russia's national program has 
been clearly set forth in the statement of the Provisional 
Government of March 27 and more explicitly in the dec- 
laration of the new Government of May 18. 

With all emphasis may I state that Russia rejects any 
idea of a separate peace? [Applause.] I am aware that 
rumors were circulated in this country that a separate 
peace seemed probable. I am happy to affirm that such 
rumors were wholly without foundation in fact. 
[Applause.] 

What Russia is aiming for is the establishment of a 
firm and lasting peace between democratic nations. 
[Applause.] The triumph of German autocracy would 
render such peace impossible. [Applause.] It would be 
the source of the greatest misery, and, besides that, be a 
threatening menace to Russia's freedom. 

The Provisional Government is laying all endeavor to 
reorganize and fortify the army for action in common 
with its allies. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen of the House, I will close my address by 
saying Russia will not fail to be a worthy partner in the 
"league of honor." [Applause.] 

The members of the Russian Commission then took 
their places at the right of the Speaker's rostrum, and the 
Members of the House were presented to them. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Hall of the House. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 4478, 4479') 



THE BELGIAN 
WAR MISSION 



75 



THE BELGIAN WAR MISSION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

Friday, June 22, 1917. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

Mr. Martin. Mr. President, in order that Senators may 
have an opportunity to be presented to the distinguished 
representatives of Belgium who are now in the city as the 
guests of the Nation, I move that the Senate take a recess 
for 30 minutes. 

The motion was agreed to. 

The Vice President. The Chair appoints Mr. Martin, 
Mr. GaUinger, Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Saulsbury, Mr. Pom- 
erene, Mr. Smith of Michigan, Mr. McCumber, and Mr. 
Borah as a committee to introduce our distinguished 
guests to the Senate. 

The Senate thereupon took a recess for 30 minutes. 

At 12 o'clock and 15 minutes p. m. the members of the 

Belgian Mission to the Government of the United States 

were escorted by the committee appointed by the Vice 

President into the Senate Chamber, the members of the 

Mission being Baron Moncheur, chief of the political 

bureau of the Belgian Foreign Office at Havre; Gen. 

Leclercq, cavalry officer of the Second Regiment of 

Guides, and at one time commander of the First Division 

of Cavalry; M. Hector Carlier, counselor of the Mission; 

Maj. Osterrieth, an officer of the First Regiment of Guides; 

Count Louis d'Ursel; and Mr. Jean Mertens, secretary of 

the Mission. 

77 



78 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Monsieur E. de Cartier de Marchienne, the Belgian 
Minister; Hon. Breckinridge Long, Assistant Secretary of 
State; Mr. Hugh Gibson, of the State Department; and 
Capt. T. C. Cook, United States Army, accompanied the 
Mission into the Senate Chamber. 

Baron Moncheur was seated on the right of the Vice 
President and Minister Marchienne upon his left. 

ADDRESS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT. 

The Vice President. Senators, since that far off, un- 
recorded hour when om- ancestors began their slow west- 
ward movement, unnumbered and unremembered thou- 
sands have died upon the field of battle for love, for hate, 
for liberty, for conquest, as freemen or as slaves. Every 
note in the gamut of human passion has been written in 
the anvil chorus of war. Many have struck the redeeming 
blow for their own country, but few have unsheathed their 
swords without the hope of self-aggrandizement. It re- 
mained for little Belgium to write a new page in the blood 
of her martyred sons and daughters in the annals of 
diplomacy [applause], to inscribe thereon that the dishonor 
of a people is the aggregate of the selfishness of its citizens; 
that the honor of a people is the aggregate of the self- 
sacrifice of its citizens; that treaties are made to be kept, 
not broken; that a people may dare to walk through " the 
valley of the shadow of death " touching elbows with their 
convictions, but that they dare not climb to the mountain 
tops of safety if thereby they walk over the dead bodies 
of their high ideals [applause]; that a people may safely 
die if thereby they can compel an unwilling world to toss 
upon their new-made graves the white lily of a blameless 
life. 

Here, Senators, ends all I know, and here begins what 
I believe: Belgium shall arise. [Prolonged applause,] 
The long night of her weeping shall end ; the morning of a 
day of joy shall break over her desolated homes, her 
devastated fields, and her profaned altars. When it 
breaks, humanity will learn that when mankind gambles 



The Belgian War Mission. 79 

with truth and honor and humanity the dice of the gods 
are always loaded. [Applause.] 

To me, in all profane history, there is no sadder, sweeter, 
sublimer character than Sidney Carton. Dreamer of 
dreams, he walked his lonely, only way. In all the history 
of nations there is no sadder, sweeter, sublimer story than 
the story of Belgium. [Applause.] Doer of deeds, she, 
too, has walked her lonely, only way — the via doloroso 
that leads to duty, death, and glory. [Great applause.] 
Out of the depths and across the deeps the representatives 
of the remnant of her people and the guardians of her 
honor have come to us tliis day. 

I present to you the chairman of that Mission, Baron 
Moncheur. [Applause.] 

ADDRSS BY BARON MONCHEUR. 

Baron Moncheur. Mr. President and gentlemen of the 
Senate, when some years ago I had the honor of repre- 
senting the Government of my King in the United States, 
I often came to the Senate, where I listened with deep 
interest to the debates of your distinguished body. In 
those times I never thought that some day it would be 
my privilege to speak from this historic tribune. 

When the Vice President was kind enough to ask me 
to address the Senate, I admit that at first I hesitated to 
accept his gracious invitation. 

How should I dare to speak in this Chamber, which has 
resounded to the eloquence and wisdom of so many dis- 
tinguished statesmen whose utterances from this tribune 
have changed the history of the world ? 

How should I venture to address this body to which the 
distinction, the talent, and the wisdom of its Members 
have given a unique place among the legislative assemblies 
of the world ? 

If, gentlemen, I have finally succeeded in overcoming 
this natural hesitation, it is only because of my great 
desire to express, as well as my words will permit, the 
gratitude and admiration which the whole Belgian nation 



8o Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

feels^ toward the American people and toward their Gov- 
ernment. 

You all know the unspeakable evils which have be- 
fallen my unfortimate country — the unprovoked invasion 
accompanied by a deHberate system of terror, the burn- 
ing of many of our thriving cities and of innumerable 
villages, the massacre of thousands of our peaceful citi- 
zens, the pillage and devastation of our country. 

Then followed the iron hand of foreign domination, 
enormous war contributions exacted from all the nine 
Provinces of Belgium, ruinous requisitions of all sorts 
from our people, the seizure of the raw material of in- 
dustry, and even the theft of our machinery, which was 
sent into the country of our enemy for his own use, so 
that now the silence of death reigns in our industrial 
centers which before had been the most active in Europe. 

You also know, gentlemen, the way in which this 
regime of oppression has been carried out — 80,000 Bel- 
gians condemned, in the space of one year, to various 
penalties for having displeased the invader; as, for 
example, the noble burgomaster of Brussels, who has been 
in imprisonment for the past two .years for trying to up- 
hold the principle of civic liberty which for centuries has 
been so dear to all Belgians. 

You have learned also of the deportation of our work- 
men into Germany — a crime the horrors of which, accord- 
ing to the opinion of one of your countrymen, should 
cause more indignation throughout the entire world than 
all the previous outrages against the sacred principles 
of justice and of humanity. 

But Belgium, even in the midst of the terrible mis- 
fortunes which have been brought upon her by her 
fidelity to treaties and by respect for her plighted word, 
does not regret her decision, and there is not a single 
Belgian worthy of the name who does not now, as on 
the first day of war, approve the judgment of our Govern- 
ment that it is better to die, if need be, rather than to 
live without honor. [Prolonged applause.] Like Patrick 



The Belgian War Mission. 8 1 

Henry, all Belgians say, "Give me liberty or give me 
death. " [Applause.] 

This sentiment will be shared by all the citizens of the 
great American Nation, who responded with such en- 
thusiasm and with such unanimity to the noble words of 
your President when, in terms which held the world 
spellbound, he proclaimed the imprescriptible right of 
justice over force. 

The courage of my fellow countrymen has been strength- 
ened also by the sympathy for our misfortunes which has 
been manifested throughout your great land. American 
initiative has bestowed most generous help upon our 
starving population, and, in offering from this tribune the 
expression of gratitude of every Belgian heart, I wish also 
to render special homage to that admirable organization, 
the commission for relief in Belgium, which has done so 
much to save our people from starvation. [Applause.] 

Yes, gentlemen, the sympathy of America gives us new 
courage; and while King Albert [applause], who since the 
fateful day when our territory was violated, has remained 
steadfastly at the front, continues the struggle with in- 
domitable energy at the head of our army intrenched upon 
the last strip of our soil that remains to us, while the 
Queen [applause], that worthy companion of a great sov- 
ereign, expends her unceasing efforts to comfort and re- 
lieve the victims of battle, exciting enthusiasm by her 
contempt for the danger to which she exposes herself day 
by day, on the other side of the enemy's line of steel stand 
the Belgian people, bowed beneath the yoke but never 
conquered, maintaining their unshaken patriotism in 
spite of the seductions of the enemy as well as in spite of 
his iron rule, the Belgian population, a martyr whose 
courage is upheld by our great Cardinal Mercier, awaits 
silently in the sacred union of all parties the final hour of 
deliverance. [Great applause.] 

That hour, gentlemen, will, I am convinced, be materi- 
ally hastened by the powerful aid of the United States, 
and the time approaches when Belgium, restored to full 

16720— S. Deo. 87, 6&-1 6 



82 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

and complete independence, both politically and econom- 
ically, will be able to thank in a fitting manner all those 
who have aided her to emerge from the darkness of the 
tomb into the glorious light of a new life. [Prolonged 
applause.] 

The Vice President. Baron Moncheur and the mem- 
bers of the Mission will take pleasure in meeting the 
Senators and their guests. 

The members of the Belgian Mission took their places 
at the left of the Vice President's desk, and the Members 
of the Senate were presented to them by the committee 
appointed by the Vice President. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted from the 
Chamber; and at 12 o'clock and 45 minutes p. m., upon 
the expiration of the recess, the Senate reassembled. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 4370, 4371) 

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES. 

Saturday, June 23, 1917. 



INVITATION. 

Mr. SiEGEi/. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Speaker be authorized to invite the Belgian 
Mission to visit the House on Wednesday next, at such 
time as is convenient to them, and that at that time the 
House take a recess for one-half hour. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Siegel] asks unanimous consent that the Speaker be 
authorized to invite the Belgian Commission to be with 
us next Wednesday, at such hour as they may select, and 
that at that time the House take a recess for 30 minutes. 
Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

(ConK. Record, p. 4533.) 



The Belgian War Mission. 83 

Tuesday, June 26, 1917. 



SPECIAIv BELGIAN MISSION. 

The Speaker. Under the order of the House the Chair 
communicated with the Belgian Commissioners, and they 
have set i o'clock to-morrow as their time to be here. 
The Chair will ask that the letter of Baron Moncheur, 
the chief of the special Belgian Mission, be inserted in 
the Record. 

The letter is as follows : 

21 18 Massachusetts Avenue. 
The Honorable Champ Clark, 

Speaker House of Representatives. 
Dear Sir : I thank you for your very kind invitation, and it 
will give me and the other members of the Belgian Mission much 
pleasure to come to the House on Wednesday, June 27, at i 
o'clock. 

Most respectfully, 

Bn. Moncheur, 

Chief of the Special Belgian Mission. 

(Cong. Record, p. 4670.) 



Wednesday, June 27, 1917. 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 



The Speaker. Under the previous order, the House 
will stand in recess for 30 minutes. 

Accordingly (at i o'clock p. m.) the House took a recess 
until I o'clock and 30 minutes p. m. 

At I o'clock and 4 minutes p. m. the Sergeant at Arms 
announced the Belgian Mission, and the members of the 
Mission, Baron Ludovic Moncheur, Mr. de Cartier, Gen. 
Leclercq, Maj. Osterreith, and Count d'Ursell, accompa- 
nied by Mr. Warren Robbins, secretary of embassy , attached 



84 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

by the Department of State as aid to the Mission, and 
Capt. Cook, military aid, entered the Hall of the House. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted to the Speaker's 
rostrum, amid prolonged applause and cheers. 

ADDRESS BY THE SPEAKER. 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Representa- 
tives, from time out of mind Belgium has been known as 
the cockpit of Europe. [Applause.] There have been 
more great battles fought in Belgium than on the same 
acreage of land anywhere else in the civilized world. 

Those of you who remember when you were wrestling 
with Latin in the days of your youth recall that Caesar, in 
the opening words of his Commentaries, said that among 
the Gallic tribes the Belgians were the bravest. [Ap- 
plause.] Most assuredly he was a good judge of fighting 
men. Within the last three years the present generation 
of Belgians have demonstrated beyond all controversy 
that they are worthy of the high encomium pronounced on 
their ancestors by the great Roman Imperator. [Ap- 
plause.] 

I now present to you Baron Moncheur, the head of the 
Belgian mission to this country. [Applause.] 

ADDRESS BY BARON MONCHEUR. 

Baron Moncheur. Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the 
House of Representatives, I am deeply grateful for this 
cordial reception by your distinguished assembly. Your 
sympathy and friendship will warm the hearts of all my 
countrymen and will give them renewed confidence for 
the future. We know that in the great conflict before us 
we have the powerful aid of the American Nation. 

During my long residence in the United States some 
years ago I watched with interest and admiration the eco- 
nomic development of your country, which had been fa- 
vored by the advantages of many yeais of peace. 

During that period my own country learned from you 
many lessons in regard to industry and commerce and by 



The Belgian War Mission. 85 

following your example had become, although small in 
size and population, one of the foremost nations of the 
earth in the realms of commerce and industry. 

But if years ago I admired your country in the fullness 
of prosperity and wondered at your industrial genius and 
the marvelous activity of your citizens it is with even 
greater admiration that I now see your entire Nation rise 
as one man to answer the voice of your President calling 
upon you to put forth all your efforts and devotion for 
the defense of freedom and the rights of mankind. [Ap- 
plause.] All the sons of America, without distinction of 
race or of party, have rallied to your flag. They think 
only of their duty to their country. They are ever ready 
to sacrifice their private and personal interests, and leav- 
ing behind them their dear ones, who will be plunged 
into grief and tears on account of their absence, they 
rally to the Star-Spangled Banner, which for the first 
time in your history has crossed the ocean to float over 
the battle fields of the Old World. [Applause.] 

As in the Middle Ages, the knights were accustomed to 
hold a vigil, watching their armor in the chapel, so you 
to-day are making that same holy and prayerful prepa- 
ration for the battle to come. Everywhere you are car- 
rying on work which day b}'^ day brings nearer the mo- 
ment of supreme victory. [Applause.] While the flower 
of American youth is preparing itself in your splendid 
training camps, your shipyards, your factories, and your 
munition plants resound with the hum of feverish work 
providing your soldiers with the implements of war. 

American aviation, that marvelous product of the New 
World, is making ready to lend its powerful aid, also 
to support our armies. Is it not natural, indeed, that the 
American eagle should from the skies strike the death- 
blow to the enemy ? [Applause.] 

After your great stroke for liberty in 1776 you formed 
a society which you called the Order of the Cincinnati, to 
indicate that when war was finished you knew how to 
beat your swords into plowshares; and now, when war 



86 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

has been forced upon you, you have given proof that 
you know equally well how to turn your plowshares into 
swords. [Applause.] Some 20 years ago Prince Albert 
of Belgium, heir to a throne which seemed to be safely 
sheltered from the blast of war, came to America, where 
he studied with the deepest interest your marvelous 
country and the wonderful works of industry and com- 
merce which you had developed in the quietude of peace; 
and now how can I express the sentiments which fill 
his heroic soul when, fighting at the head of his troops 
in the last trench on Belgian soil, he sees the sons of thait 
same industrious America land upon the coast of Europe, 
brave champions of the most noble principles and ready 
to lay down their lives in defense of right and justice. 
[Applause.] 

On a certain occasion a mighty sovereign declared "the 
Pyrenees exist no more," and to-day we can say with 
even more truth "There is no longer any ocean" — for 
endless friendship cemented by gratitude and joint 
effort and triumph in the cause of justice and liberty 
will forever obliterate the barrier of the seas and unite 
the children of old Belgium to the sons of the young and 
powerful Republic of the New World. [Applause.] 

The members of the Mission then took their places at 
the right of the Speaker's rostrum, and the Members of 
the House were presented to them. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Hall of the House. 

(Cong. Record, pp. 4764. 4765.) 



THE JAPANESE 
WAR MISSION 



87 



THE JAPANESE WAR MISSION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

Thursday, August 30, 1917. 



PRELIMINARY RROCEEDINGS. 

Mr. Martin. Mr. President, we all know that we have 
in the city as the guests of the Nation a number of distin- 
guished statesmen representing the Government and 
people of Japan. I am sure it wili be a pleasure to all the 
Members of the Senate to have an opportunity to be pre- 
sented to the distinguished visitors, and for that purpose I 
move that the Senate now take a recess for 30 minutes. 

The President pro tempore. In anticipation of the 
adoption of that motion the Chair will appoint the Senator 
from Virginia [Mr. Martin], the Senator from ?;Iassachu- 
setts [Mr. Lodge], the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. 
Overman], the Senator from Utah [Mr. Smoot], and the 
Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Hitchcock] to meet the dis- 
tinguished guests and escort them into the Chamber. The 
Chair will request that at i o'clock, when the Senate recon- 
venes, the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Robinson] will take 
the chair. The question now is on the motion of the 
Senator from Virginia that the Senate take a recess for 
30 minutes. 

The motion was agreed to. 

At 12 o'clock and 35 minutes the members of the 
Japanese Mission, escorted by the committee appointed 
by the President pro tempore and headed by the Sergeant 
at Arms, appeared at the main door of the Chamber and 
were announced to the Senate by the Sergeant at Arms. 
The members of the Mission were Viscount Ishii, Ambas- 
sador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary; Vice Admiral 
Takeshita, Imperial Japanese Navy; Maj. Gen. Sugano, 



90 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

Imperial Japanese Army; Mr. Masanao Haiiihara, consul 
general at San Francisco; Mr. Matsuzo Nagai, Secretary 
of the Foreign Office; Commander Ando, Imperial Jap- 
anese Navy; Lieut. Col. Tanikawa, Imperial Japanese 
Army; Mr. Tadanao Imai, vice consul; and Mr. Owaku. 

Mr. Aimari Sato, Ambassador from Japan to the Gov- 
ernm-ent of the United States; Mr. Tokichi Tanaka, 
counselor of the embassy; Capt. Nomura, naval attach^; 
and Lieut. Col. Mizumachi, military attache, accompa- 
nied the Mission into the Senate Chamber, together with 
with Mr. Breckinridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State; 
Brig. Gen. James A. Irons, United States Army; Capt. 
C. C. March, United States Navy; Mr. Ransford S. Mil- 
ler, American consul general; and Mr. A. B. Ruddock, of 
the State Department, personally attached to Viscount 
Ishii. 

Viscount Ishii was seated on the right of the President 
pro tempore and Ambassador Sato upon his left. 

ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE. 

The President pro tempore (Mr. Saulsbury) said: 
Senators, we are highly honored to-day by the pres- 
ence of these distinguished guests, who come to us rep- 
resenting the most ancient and powerful Empire of the 
world. We have met here before and welcomed the dis- 
tinguished miissions from other great nations. Heroic 
Belgium, historic Italy, great Russia, beloved France, and 
dem^ocratic Britain have sent to us of their best, but to 
none have we extended a more cordial welcome than to-day 
we give to the representatives of great Nippon, that 
beautiful land of ancient tradition and passionate patri- 
otism. [Applause.] 

A mighty nation is the ancient Empire of Japan. Its 
youth renewed, it joins our great young nation in pledg- 
ing anew a continuance of our old friendships, which the 
trouble maker of the earth has tried so hard to interrupt. 
We now know how industriously insidious attempts have 
been made by the Prussian masters of the German people 



The Japanese War Mission. 91 

to bring about distrust and hatred in the world. We 
know what evil attempts they have made to breed hatred 
and distrust of us among our friends, and we welcome 
this opportunity to heartily congratulate our old friends 
who honor us to-day that by the capture of Tsing Tau 
and the German islands of the Pacific Japan has com- 
pletely removed from the Far Eastern world the only 
threat, as we believe, to peace and prosperity, the only 
threat to lasting peace in eastern Asia. [Applause.] 

Within the memory of living man Prussians have 
provoked four wars for conquest and in three succeeded. 
Their fourth attempt has roused the world to unified, 
concerted action. 

The yellow peril was made in Germany, and Shangtung 
was seized; the Slav peril was made in Germany, and 
Serbia was overwhelmed and Russia was invaded; but 
the thick-witted, smug, self -centered supermen of Germany 
entering their last attempt at conquest have roused a 
real peril — a real peril to themselves — and the free 
nations that believe in international honor, in the binding 
force of treaties, and in the pledged word, are grimly, 
though so sorrowfully, engaged in creating, perfecting, 
and bringing to successful issue an alliance for the benefit 
of all earth's people, which will protect the rights of 
nations, small and great, and enable them to lead their 
lives in peace, and lead them unafraid. This alliance we 
and the other free nations of the earth are creating to 
control the disturbers of the peace of the world, and it 
is now succeeding. The alliance we create is based on 
the brotherhood of man, the equal rights of men and 
nations. It is based on the universal kindly instincts of 
the human heart, no matter whether that heart beats in 
an eastern or a western breast, no matter where free men 
live, in America or Asia, in South Africa, in Europe, or 
in South America. The alliance we create is directed 
against and threatens only wrong, inhumanity, and 
injustice. It threatens only rapacity, greed, hypocrisy, 
and nationalized brutality. It threatens only military 



92 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

autocracy and the violators of treaties who disregard the 
pledged honor of nations. Our alliance is indeed a peril, 
but only to the new pirates of the seas, to the assassins of 
the air; to those who violate international decency and 
fair dealing, who misuse the forces of developed science 
and distort the teachings of philosophy, who would destroy 
civilization itself in the effort to accomplish world 
domination. 

This peril our alliance has created is the peril to the 
central European pov/ers, but it bears no color label. It 
is and will be in the future the common glory of all true 
men of all free nations everywhere to have joined in its 
creation and success. It is an Anglo-French-Slav-Italian- 
Japanese-American peril to the misdemeanant of the 
world. [Applause.] Allies in East and West are joined 
together to bring back lasting peace to a disordered and 
war-sick world. Let us renew our time-honored friend- 
ship with clasped hands and good wishes for the peaceful, 
friendly development of both our Nations and assure 
poor, stricken Europe that this western Republic and 
eastern Empire, together in friendly accord, will work for 
the good of all humanity. [Applause.] 

This Congress has pledged all the resources of om* 
great country to our common cause, the curbing of 
international rapacity and hate and barbarism. 

Senators, I have never believed there was more than 
a jingling rhyme in the phrase that East is East and 
West is West and never the two shall meet, and we are 
happy to-day, while honoring our distinguished guests, 
to demonstrate to the world that there is no East and 
there is no West when strong men come together as 
friends, though they come from the ends of the earth, 
determined in friendly alliance to work out right and 
justice for themselves and all earth's peoples. [Applause.] 

lyet us never permit hereafter that evil tongues or 
wicked propaganda shall cause even the simplest minded 
among our people to forget the ancient friendship of our 
Nations or weaken the ties of mutual respect and regard 
in which we hold each other. This meeting to-day sym- 



The Japanese War Mission. 93 

bolizes complete international fraternity which common 
consciousness of international honor has brought about. 
Let it be eternal ! 

I have the honor of presenting to the Senators of the 
United States the most distinguished of our visitors, 
his excellency Viscount Ishii, chief of the Mission from 
Imperial Japan. [Great applause.] 

address by viscount ishii. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen op the Senate of 
THE United States: No words at my command can give 
adequate expression to the profound appreciation I have 
of this honor you confer upon us. We know full well 
the exalted dignity and the proud traditions of this 
illustrious branch of the great Legislature of the United 
States; and in the name of my country, my mission, 
and myself, I thank you most sincerely. To accept your 
courteous invitation and to occupy even the smallest 
fraction of the time allowed for the momentous delibera- 
tions of this august body is a great responsibility — a 
responsibility I do not underestimate, but from which I 
may not shrink. 

I shall not, however, abuse this rare privilege by 
attempting to address at length, in a language of which 
I have but little command, trained leaders of thought 
and masters of argument and oratory. But I grasp this 
occasion to say to you that the whole people of Japan 
heartily welcome and profoundly appreciate the entrance 
of this mighty Nation of yours into the struggle against 
the insane despoiler of our civilization. [Applause.] We 
all know that you did not undertake this solemn task on 
the impulse of the moment, but that you threw your 
mighty weight into the struggle only after exercising a 
most admirable patience, with a firm determination that 
this world shall be made free from the threat of aggression 
from the black shadow of a military despotism wielded 
by a nation taught with the mother's milk that human 



94 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

right must yield to brutal might. [Applause.] To us 
the fact that you are now on the side of the allies in this 
titanic struggle constitutes already a great moral victory 
for our common cause, which we believe to be the cause 
of right and justice, for the strong as for the weak, for 
the great as for the small. 

We of Japan believe we understand something of the 
American ideal of life, and we pay our most profoimd 
respects to it. Jefferson, your great democratic Presi- 
dent, conceived the ideal of an American Commonwealth 
to be not a rule imposed on the people by force of arms 
but as a free expression of the individual sentiments of 
that people. Jefferson saw Americans not as a set of 
people huddled together under the muzzles of machine 
guns, but he saw them as a myriad of independent and 
free men, as individuals only relying on a combined 
military force for protection against aggression from 
abroad or treachery from within. He saw a commimity 
of people guided by a community of good thought and 
pure patriotism, using their own special talents in their 
own special way under their own sacred roof trees; not a 
machine-made Nation, but a living, growing organism, 
animated by one passion — the passion of liberty. [Ap- 
plause.] 

I asstue you, gentlemen, that the Japanese ideal of 
national life is, in its final analysis, not so very far removed 
from yours. We conceive of otw nation as a vast family, 
held together not by the arbitrary force of armed men 
but by the force of a natural development. We shall 
call the common force that animates us a passion of 
loyalty to our Emperor and to our homes, as we shall 
call that of Americans a passion for liberty and of loyalty 
to their flag. [Applause.] 

Blind loyalty without rational consciousness of the 
responsibility of self is but another name for slavery, 
while a right of liberty ill conceived, ignoring the mutual 
human affection and respect for the rights of every man, 



The Japanese War Mission. 95 

which forms the essence of true loyalty, must be tanta- 
mount to anarchy. These two passions — passion of 
loyalty and passion for liberty — are they not really one? 
Is not the same control working in both cases — the intense 
desire to be true to our innermost selves and to the 
highest and best that has been revealed to us ? You must 
be free to be Americans, and we must be free to be 
Japanese. But our common enemy is not content with 
this freedom for the nation or for the individual ; he must 
force all the world to be German, too! You had hoped 
against hope that this was not so ; but that noble hope fled 
and your admirable patience was exhausted. You did 
not then hesitate to face the issue and the foe, as you are 
facing it, with that great American spirit which has loved 
and still loves liberty, which loves the right more than 
peace and honor, more than life. [Applause.] 

We of Japan took up arms against Germany because 
a solemn treaty was not to us " a scrap of paper." [Great 
applause.] We did not enter into this war because we 
had any selfish interest to promote or any ill-conceived 
ambition to gratify. We are in the war, we insist on being 
in it, and we shall stay in it, because earnestly, as a nation 
and as individuals, we believe in the righteousness of the 
cause for which we stand; because we believe that only 
by a complete victory for that cause can there be made a 
righteous, honorable, and permanent peace, so that this 
world may be made safe for all men to live in and so that 
all nations may work out their destinies untrammeled 
by fear. [Applause.] 

Mr. President and gentlemen, whatever the critic half 
informed or the hired slanderer may say against us, in 
forming your judgment of Japan we ask you only to use 
those splendid abilities that guide this great Nation, 
The criminal plotter against our good neighborhood takes 
advantage of the fact that at this time of the world's 
crisis many things must of necessity remain untold and 
unrecorded in the daily newspapers; but we are satisfied 



96 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

that we are doing our best. In this tremendous work, 
as we move together shoulder to shoulder, to a certain 
victory, America and Japan must have many things in 
which the one can help the other. We have much in 
common and much to do in concert. That is the reason 
I have been sent, and that is the reason you have received 
me here to-day. 

I have an earnest and abiding faith that this association 
of ours, this proving of ourselves in the highest, most 
sacred, and most trying of human activities — the armed 
vindication of right and justice — must bring us to a still 
closer concord and a deeper confidence one in the other, 
sealing for all time the bonds of cordial friendship between 
our two nations. 

Again I thank you. [Great applause,] 

The President pro tempore. The Special Ambassador 
from Japan and the Japanese Ambassador to Washington 
will be glad to receive the Senators and their guests upon 
the floor as they desire to be presented. 

The members of the Japanese Mission took their places 
at the left of the Vice President's desk, and the Members 
of the Senate were presented to them by the committee 
appointed by the President pro tempore. 

The distinguished visitors were escorted from the 
Chamber, and (at i o'clock p. m.) the Senate reassembled 
upon the expiration of the recess. 

Mr. Smoot. I ask unanimous consent that the address 
delivered in the Senate Chamber to-day by the President 
pro tempore of the Senate [Mr. Saulsbury] and by Viscount 
Ishii, Special Ambassador from Japan, be printed in the 
Record of to-day's proceedings. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Robinson in the chair). 
Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and it is so 
ordered. ♦ 

(Cong. Record, pp. 7044. 7o4S-) 



The Japanese War Mission. 97 

PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 

TIVES. 

Saturday, September 1, 1917. 



INVITATION. 

Mr, FivOOD. Mr. Speaker 

The Speaker. For what purpose does the gentleman 
from Virginia arise ? 

Mr. Flood. I ask unanimous consent of the House that 
the Speaker be requested to invite the Japanese Mission, 
now in this country, to visit the House at 12.30 p. m. 
next Wednesday, and that, if these gentlemen honor us 
with that visit, the House take a recess of 30 minutes at 
the time they come. 

The Speaker. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia? [After a pause.] The Chair 
hears none. 

(Cong. Record, p. 71 18.) 



Wednesday, September 5, 1917, 



PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS. 

The Speaker. The Chair announces the following com- 
mittee to wait on the Japanese Commissioners and conduct 
them into the Hall: Mr. Flood, Mr. Linthicum, Mr. Good- 
win of Arkansas, Mr. Stedman, Mr. Cooper of Wisconsin, 
Mr. Temple, and Mr. Foss. Under the order of the House, 
the House will stand in recess 30 minutes. 

Theieupon (at 12 o'clock and 25 minutes p. m.) the 
House stood in recess. 

At 12 o'clock and 35 minutes p. m. the members of the 
Japanese Mission, escorted by the committee appointed 
by the Speaker, entered the Chamber and were announced 
to the House by the Sergeant at Arms. The members of 

16720-8. Doc. 87, 65-1—17 7 



98 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

the Mission were: Viscount Ishii, Ambassador Extraor- 
dinary and Plenipotentiary; Vice Admiral Takeshita, 
Imperial Japanese Navy; Maj. Gen. Sugano, Imperial 
Japanese Army; Mr. Masanao Hanihara, consul general 
at San Francisco; Mr. Matsuzo Nagai, Secretary of the 
Foreign Office; Commander Ando, Imperial Japanese 
Navy; Lieut. Col. Tanikawa, Imperial Japanese Army; 
Mr. Tadanao Imai, vice consul; and Mr. Owaku. 

Mr. Ainiari Sato, Ambassador from Japan to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States; Mr. Tokichi Tanaka, coun- 
selor of the embassy; Capt, Nomura, naval attach^; and 
Lieut. Col. Mizumachi, military attache, accompanied the 
Mission into the House, together with Mr. Breckinridge 
Longj Third Assistant Secretary of State; Brig, Gen. 
James A. Irons, United States Army; Capt. C. C. March, 
United States Navy; and Mr. A. B. Ruddock, of the State 
Department, personally attached to Viscount Ishii. 

Viscoimt Ishii was seated on the right of the Speaker 
and Ambassador Sato upon his left. 

ADDRESS BY THE SPEAKER. 

The Speaker. Gentlemen of the House of Representa- 
tives, Japan is one of the oldest countries in the world, and 
yet it is the very newest of the great powers of the world. 
[Applause.] The history of Japan extends back into the 
twilight of fable. In ancient times there were seven things 
selected that were denominated the wonders of the world. 
Nearly all of them have gone. The historian of the times 
in which we live will rank the remarkable and astounding 
progress of the Empire of Japan as one of the seven won- 
ders of these times. [Applause.] 

The Empire of Japan is our nearest western neighbor. 
She holds one side of the Pacific and we hold the other, and 
every right-thinking man in the Empire of Japan and in the 
Republic of the United States hopes that peace, amity, and 
friendly relations will always prevail between these two 
great powers. [Applause.] . 



The Japanese War Mission. 99 

Within the last few months we have had visiting com- 
missions from France, Great Britain, Belgium, Russia, and 
Italy, and now we have the Japanese Mission. I present 
to this magnificent audience Viscount Ishii, the head of the 
Mission from Japan. [Applause.] 

ADDRESS BY VISCOUNT ISHII. 

Viscount Ishii. Mr. Speaker and Members of the House 
of Representatives, I thank you most sincerely for this 
gracious reception. The rare opportunity thus afforded to 
me is deeply appreciated throughout the nation I have the 
honor to represent. [Applause.] I bring a message, borne 
by us across an ocean and a continent, from the Emperor 
and the people of our beloved island, set in the far eastern 
Pacific, to the President of the United States and to you, 
the representatives of the greatest Republic on earth to- 
day, a potent factor in the most stupendous and, we must 
believe, the final struggle for liberty throughout the world. 
[Applause.] 

Our message reiterates an assurance of unchanged 
sincerity of friendship well understood by the people of 
the United States, but it is a message which has never 
found opportunity such as this for delivery. [Applause.] 
Your courteous permission for us to occupy a place on this 
historic rostrum and to speak within the hearing, in fact, 
of the hundred millions of people of the United States of 
America carries with it a forceful manifestation of the 
sentiment which we believe the United States entertain 
toward my country. [Applause.] 

We would not have traveled 10,000 miles merely ta 
repeat what must have sufficiently impressed itself upon 
you, but that within the last few months a new day has 
dawned [applause] — a day welcomed indeed by us. It 
follows upon another when you, with magnificent for- 
bearance, endured great wrongs and outrages in the hope 
that recourse to the sword might be avoided. It was a 
day in which you bore the pitiless cruelty of the willful 



lOO Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

aggressor of all human rights — bore it bravely and with 
fortitude until the star of hope vanished and toleration 
ceased to be a virtue. Then, in the dawning of this 
day, you arose and threw your mighty forces into the 
balance against the wrong in favor of the right. [Ap- 
plause.] In this dawning the Stars and Stripes flung 
across the skies were entwined with the emblem of the 
Rising Sun, and so commenced the brighter day. 
[Applause.] That is why we are here. We come to bring 
to you the message of our Emperor, which gives you 
assurance of the comradeship and the cooperation of 
Japan throughout this day. We are here to say that, 
with the other allies, we heartily welcome the advent of 
the United States in the fields of France and elsewhere. 
We recognize the great uplift given to humanity and the 
promise of a physical victory doubly insured by the most 
momentous decision you have taken. [Applause.] 

We bring to you assurance of support, unselfish, with- 
out a motiye other than the common force that drives us 
all to-day. [Applause.] We of Japan face the task 
seriously and with determination. We recognize the 
grim and unrelenting order we all must obey. We know 
that the desperate foe of civilization must be met by self- 
sacrifice, counsel) and unsleeping watchfulness. We are 
here to say that Japan has done and will do what may be 
demanded of her to the utmost of her resources and to the 
best of her ability. [Applause.] 

Yoiu-s are vast resources ; ours may be small, but we can 
say to you that the spirit of Japan bums as ardently and 
will last as long as may be demanded in this war. [Ap- 
plause.] We are eager for counsel with you. We come to 
find out how these two nations can best coordinate their 
energies and their resources; how best they can cooperate 
in the conduct and the winning of this war. [Applause.] 
We come to say to you that we are proud on this day to 
stand shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers of America. 
In the field and in the household, in the mine and in the 
shop, the men and the women of Japan are working and 



The Japanese War Mission. loi 

will work with a greater confidence and a higher sense of 
moral obligation. 

Japan has exerted herself with the spirit of loyalty to 
her allies, her Emperor, and to her homes, following the 
ideals of our national life, to which I alluded when I had 
the honor of addressing your Senate a few days ago. 
Japan will continue to add her quota to the sacrifice which 
alone can insure a victory. [Applause.] Like the people 
of America, those of Japan have remained permanently 
independent because of a real patriotism which, when the 
occasion demands, never fails. We, like you, protect our- 
selves against aggression from without and treachery from 
within. We, Hke you, know nothing of tyranny and 
despotism; and we, like you, stand determined that 
malignance and oppression from the conqueror, imposed 
upon the conquered, shall not become the lot of our 
people. [Applause.] Neither shall our families and our 
homes be violated and desecrated by the licentious and 
brutal forces of evil now trampling upon the helpless 
women and children of the countries they have overrun. 
[Applause.] 

Treachery from within, indeed, at this hour, calls for 
otu: attention. While your soldiers leave their families 
and their homes to fight on the blood-stained fields of 
France, we must guard our landmarks, as you will guard 
yours, against treachery that has found hiding places in 
our midst and which for the last lo years has sown the 
seeds of discord between us. Let it be a part of our 
cooperation and coordination to protect each other from 
these forces of evil which lack even the poorest courage 
of an open enemy. [Applause.] 

Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, we have been climbing a mountain toward 
the stars by different antl sometimes devious pathways, 
but near the summit our roads shall join, and together 
we shall win into the full sunlight above the clouds. 
[Applause.] We shall pass safely through the dangerous 
places. Our blood shall not have been shed and our 



I02 Visiting War Missions to the United States. 

sacrifice shall not have been made in vain, for we shall be 
among the nations of a world living in a brotherhood of 
peace. [Applause.] Will it not then be a source of 
intense national pride to each of us to remember this day 
which must insure a permanent maintenance of these, 
renewed pledges of comradeship and of cooperation? 

I again wish to express my sincere appreciation of the 
honor you have done us, [Applause.] 

The members of the Mission then took their places on 
the right of the Speaker's rostrum, and the Members of 
the House of Representatives were presented to them. 

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the 
Hall of the House. 

The recess having expired, the House (at i o'clock 
and 3 minutes p. m.) resumed its session. 

<Cong. Record, pp. 783J-?a3a.) 



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